Environmentalists Hail Earth Hour As A Big Success

BONN, Germany — For environmental activists, the message was clear: Earth Hour was a huge success.

Now they say nations have a mandate to tackle climate change.

"The world said yes to climate action, now governments must follow," the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) said Sunday, a day after hundreds of millions of people worldwide followed its call to turn off lights for a full hour.

From an Antarctic research base and the Great Pyramids of Egypt, from the Colosseum in Rome to the Empire State building in New York, illuminated patches of the globe went dark Saturday night to highlight the threat of climate change. Time zone by time zone, nearly 4,000 cities and towns in 88 countries dimmed nonessential lights from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

WWF called the event, which began in Australia in 2007 and grew last year to 400 cities worldwide, "the world's first-ever global vote about the future of our planet."

The United Nations' top climate official, Yvo de Boer, called the event a clear sign that the world wants negotiators seeking a climate change agreement to set an ambitious course to fight global warming.

Talks in Bonn this week are the latest round in an effort to craft a deal to control emissions of the heat-trapping gases responsible for global warming. They are due to culminate in Copenhagen this December.

"Earth Hour was probably the largest public demonstration on climate change ever," de Boer told delegates from 175 nations. "Its aim was to tell every government representative to seal a deal in Copenhagen. The world's concerned citizens have given the negotiations an additional and very clear mandate."

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Earth Hour officially began when the Chatham Islands, 500 miles (800 kilometers) east of New Zealand, switched off its diesel generators. It moved on through Asia, Europe and then crossed the Atlantic to North and South America.

"Earth Hour has always been a positive campaign," said Earth Hour executive director Andy Ridley. "It's always around street parties, not street protests, it's the idea of hope, not despair. And I think that's something that's been incredibly important this year because there is so much despair around."

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Associated Press writers around the world contributed to this report.

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On the Net:

Earth Hour: http://www.earthhour.org

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Earth Hour video: http://sn.im/enqwn

Comments

[flossophy]

Yay! the environmentalists turned off the lights for one hour... WHAT A SUCCESS!

everything's fixed now, you can breathe easy.

[JoshuaLudd]

Who said everything was fixed? there are still idiots like you who can't even stomach doing.. or even anyone else doing even that much.

Let me know when YOU have a solution, friend.

[dandypuddin]

Gosh, you are immature.

[MrVincent]

I dimmed my lights....­.and then I went out and drove my car and polluted the air.

Earth Hour is just another stupid idea. It will do nothing to stop pollution and emission problems.

Lets spend the time and money now to stop polluting. All that bailout money would have been nice to use for this.

[Beachrunner]

I turned the A/C down to 60 degrees, the oven up to 550 degrees, baked a really great pizza, and ate it with all the lights in the house turned on. (Yes I do own own stock in the local power company.)

[The Ghost]

Then you went out and beat baby seals to death while you ate whale blubber.

[dandypuddin]

Dikk.

[ImagesAndAdjectives]

We turned off our lights for Earth Hour. We had company over and it was nice to just sit and talk by candlelight for an hour.

We discussed the many ways we can conserve energy, like putting our TV systems and computers on timers to shut off in the middle of the night (that's saved us at least $30 a month on our electricity believe it or not!). I don't read in the bedroom, so why not light candles instead of turning on the nightstand lamp for 15 minutes before going to sleep? It's more romantic that way. Running the laundry in cold water doesn't make a difference in the cleanliness of clothing but saves on hot water use.

Earth Hour was a good idea to just take a few minutes and at least be thankful for all we do have, and think of ways we can make do with less.

[deepintheheartoftejas]

That's great. Producing light (and CO2) yourself with hugely inefficient candlelight. It also hurts my eyes, straining to read under it.

[dezzu]

Time to party like it's 1799!

[dandypuddin]

I think the strain comes from you not knowing how to read.

[Ihatecats]

http://politics.nashvillepost.com/2009/03/29/al-gore-will-leave-the-lights-on-for-ya/

[TheOside]

Al Gore left his lights on. Some event. LOL

[Beachrunner]

While he jetted around the world in his Gulfstream to see who was complying with "Earth Hour" . . . . if your lights were on, he knows.

[VikingQuest]

Earth Hour? Never heard of it, why would you want to sit in the dark?

[The Ghost]

That's why you never get laid.

[isis]

I am hoping that for next year there are Earth Hour condoms.

[JiminNC]

Nice buy why don't they turn off these "non-essential" lights more often ... like ... always???

[fiorastar]

One step at a time...and you are right, that's what "they" (we) all should do.

[StanlyManly]

Apparently, making comments on Huffpost is an "essential" use of energy.

[mamacat]

This is a symbolic step in the direction of cleaning up our own biosphere. I would like to say that what we are doing is starting to clean up our own doo-doo, which we have been dumping into the biosphere, but that wouldn't be polite, so I won't say it.

[StanlyManly]

Apparently "cleaning up our own doo-doo" means dumping toxic waste off the coast of Somolia.

Out of sight, out of mind. Or, at least out of the minds of most American consumers.

[Spiritof1982]

Where exactly is Somolia? Is it near Etheapea?

[1sparrow]

my electric bill is less than $10 every month. can anyone else claim that. i did watch t.v. during the blackout- just to see if it would go dark.--- it didn't. by the way if you want to have electric bills less than $10 - unplug your refrigerators, huddle in a small room, lots of blankets, lights out at 7 p.m.-- ha ha- the last one was a joke. i live like the uni bomber-- SO?

[ImagesAndAdjectives]

Really? How much electricity do you use for your internet access?

[FWorker]

This is a good example of over regulating by the govenment.
If you in school before the 70's any time any one had mercury
for the next week everyone was walking around with mercury
coated quarters. I bet you cant find a house built in the 60's that
had a teen age boy that doesn't have mercury in the cracks of the floors.
You have more mercury in a filling then a whole house of CFLs.
For many year the accepted way of disposal of fluorcesent tubes
was to throw them in the trash, you could actualy see the mercury in them.
I'm not saying there is no concern, but if not a death ot everyone on
earth one.

[SonofLiberty1]

First, those long flourescent bulbs don't bust that easy and they are larger so they won't be as
likely to slip not like these smaller ones.

Now that we know, we realize there's mercury all over the place...

Like everything else...it all adds up.

Regular Bulbs bust and you just don't have to worry about Mercury and it takes a broom and dust pan.

After all, isn't this a consumer driven society...­.

We want a non hazardous light bulb!

[FWorker]

Your wrong the glass in those long bulbs are very thin. I know I work with them every day.
From the heat the ends get brittle and they'll break just taking them out of the fixture.
The CFLs you just put a plastic baggie over them when you remove them.

http://www.nrdc.org/health/effects/mercury/sources.asp
http://www.energystar.gov/ia/partners/promotions/change_light/downloads/Fact_Sheet_Mercury.pdf

My reply was misdirected. It was a reply to a reply of a comment I made that instead
of them turning off the lights of the Empire State Building for only an hour. Why not
just turn off 1/2 of the lights all the time and use the money save for CFLs for
low income people. Regular bulbs contribute over 3 times as much mercury to the
environment then CLFs. All they have to do is develop a plastic coating to keep them
breaking if dropped. Just as CFLs replaced incandescent LEDs will replace CFLs.

[JnrNorman]

Al Gores research buddy remembered;

http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/586.html

[tomasedison]

Republicans can't stand success

[Puzlfxr]

You were successful in turning off a light switch?

All hail tomasedison.

[4funofit]

yeah puzlfxr, the switch goes both ways, amazing!! and now you now to. SUCCESS ! Q
It is the little things that are amazing even for Americans. #;)

[LeftLeftLeft]

Turning off a light switch is something parents have tried to get kids to do for decades. Yes, turning off a light switch when the light is not needed is a BIG DEAL. So what if it didn't cause a miraculous and immediate restoration of our embattled Earth? We will never correct our wrong actions if we don't evaluate them, stop them, and then seek common solutions to them that everyone can participate in.

[PhyllisJane]

Why are so many poeple sooooooo NEGATIVE about this?????? Offshore drilling & nuclear power to save the planet?? GIVE ME A BREAK....

[Puzlfxr]

Last night everyone was acting like a mushroom

Kept in the dark and fed a bunch of sh**.

[Inthon]

I like your use of the Depahted quote.

[research]

I have mixed feelings about this. I'm as pro green energy as you can get, but for some reason,this stunt rubs me the wrong way. Symbolism over substance? Sure but Symbolism is important to changing world opinion. Perhaps us technical folks don't respond to these stunts since they are data free, and we are annoyed that people are convinced by stunts instead of data.

[AmbivalentGuy]

Careful, I'm getting stomped for the same view.
Another tech type here.

[SonofLiberty1]

And the cost of this in the U.S. is roughly 2 billion dollars and counting.

Now that's real evidence..­.

[SonofLiberty1]

research..­..

Look at the photos...

What you are seeing is not residential areas but Cityscapes­..
Buildings usually internally lit up all night long as well as outdoor lighting
that causes glare by either horizontally coming into your eyes or going up into the sky.

Turning off those lights...

Will save power...

But here is some observational evidence..­.

Tonight or the next clear night go out and note how many stars you can see...
This summer...n­ote if you can see the Milky Way or not...

You probably won't be able to...

Now, did you know that our Milky Way is bright enough to cast shadows?

So why can't we see so many stars?

The answer is what those photos show with the lights on..

We call it LIGHT POLLUTION

And the cost of this, in The

[research]

I agree, too bad it was just 1 hour. I hate street lights. a waste of energy, money, and the loss of the sight of the night Sky to assuage are fears of the dark.

[Inthon]

Let energy prices be managed by a free market and we'll find out how expensive gasoline really is when we don't have the Saudis in our pocket.

Higher energy prices fuel demand for more sustainable sources.

Government intervention keeps prices artificially low and distorts normal market forces which would otherwise correctly start looking for alternatives.

[deepintheheartoftejas]

I think you mean artificially high. OPEC is the one that continually cuts production to ensure they make enough dough.

[JulieSA]

I think energy conservation is a worthy goal, but there's something creepy about celebrating darkness. It makes me think of rejecting Enlightenment for the Dark Ages. It's the light of reason and faith being extinguished. I guess I've been reading too much history lately.

[research]

Don't fear the dark, that's where the stars are!

[tomasedison]

I lived through the Bush Dark Ages and all I got was...wait a sec...I didn't get a damm thing

[fiorastar]

There is nothing wrong with celebrating the cycle of light and dark--stars are very beautiful, candlelight is very beautiful, and it was so much nicer to take a nighttime walk with so many of those obnoxiously bright porchlights off. It's not extinguishing the light of reason and faith to acknowledge that both reason AND faith allow for the merits of quiet and restful dark times as well as bright lights.