WWF: Flick the switch on climate change

主題: WWF: Flick the switch on climate change 周四 3月 26, 2009 9:47 am

Flick the switch on climate change

On March 28 at 8:30pm, people, businesses and iconic buildings around the world will switch off their lights for one hour to encourage world leaders to work together to tackle climate change.

Global landmarks including Nelson’s Column, the Eiffel Tower and Sydney Opera House will be plunged into darkness in support of the World Wildlife Fund’s annual Earth Hour. More than 2,000 cities from 80 countries have signed up so far. The organisation hopes at least a billion people will take part.

This year’s event marks the start of a new WWF campaign to convince governments to agree effective action against climate change. “December’s UN climate summit in Copenhagen is their last chance to get it right, so we need to ensure they know we care,” reads a statement on the WWF website.

Earth Hour was first held in Sydney, Australia, in 2007, when 2.2 million people doused their lights in support of the campaign. A year later, that support encircled the globe: more than 370 cities in 35 countries joined the cause.

“WWF’s Earth Hour will send a strong signal to global leaders that millions of people are relying on them to take strong steps to tackle climate change when they meet at the UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen this December,” said Colin Butfield, Head of Campaigns at WWF-UK.

London Mayor Boris Johnson has also pledged his support. “During Earth Hour... I will be pioneering London’s carbon-cutting operations by sitting in my office in a state of Zen-like tranquillity, motionless, brooding on the future of the planet because the less movement I make, the less the sensors have to pick up and in a certain moment the lights will automatically go off,” he said in a WWF video promoting the event. “I will sit, I suppose, for an hour or so waiting until the moment is right and then I will jump up, move around and reactivate the sensors.”

The WWF is urging anyone wanting to take part in this year’s to register online. Sophie McCallum, spokesman for WWF-UK, told MSN: “It‘s a very visual statement to show support on climate change, getting people to send messages to leaders across the world.”

March 24 2009

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