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

[AmbivalentGuy]

Empty gesture.
Meaningless once you get corporate sponsors.
Earth day was supposed to develop "awareness"
in about 1970. It still exists. Know which month it's in?

This is a modern reaction. Substitute gesture for action.

I knew about the date first from an esurance Co ad.
Posters made much of going to places to watch the
lights turn out in their city.

This is just a feel good exercise.
It is not how things get done.

If you believe it is, then fine.
But as soon as you have corporate sponsors,
"news" attention, et al., then the "event" supplants
the "meaning". It probably already has -
I'll bet there were TV broadcast of the "light off".
Who would be watching them if this wasn't an "event".

Ah, well.
Plenty of non-Xians celebrate Xmas.
People look for new towels on "President's Day".
Microwave pyrotechnicians can get Peeps easier at Easter.
Thanksgiving is some kind of football party isn't it?
We overeat on, well, usually.

Basically, it is classic. The event overshadows the intent,
and eventually supplants it, and you are left with a gesture
about as necessary as my German friend making sure he
wears greean on St Pat's.

[thnk4selfagain]

Gestures sometimes grow into a movements and awareness. Bringing your own bags to the grocery store was once a gesture. After cities and companies realized they ccould save money and the environment, we think nothing of using our own re-useable bags.

[AmbivalentGuy]

What "we".
I use them, but it's not universal.
But "use of green bag" is not a gesture in this sense,
it is an action. A continued, sustainable, obvious,
clear action. It does send a message - every time you use it.

Turning off the lights for an hour is a gesture,
soon to be forgotten, either in the practice or the intent.

[AngieMom57]

Ok; so a solution please; I was with you until all the way to the last sentence and left wanting...

Yet, I know something you will soon discover: The world is now addicted to high-speed computers, and information can not be suppressed any longer from anyone that has this new addictive tool.

So, servers are going to be programed to get us healthy, wealthy, and smart...watch out the gentle giant is stirring...

[AmbivalentGuy]

The solution?
To everything?
No idea. Do we need awareness - yes.
Does this do it? No, we have people talking about
where they're going to watch the lights turn out.
It's already on it's way to amusement park level.

What can we do, use less. I use very little.

And as for that high speed discovery? I don't understand your
inference concerning suppression of information,
nor is the gentle giant stirring for your personal benefit.

[MGhamma]

Maybe you should change your name to sourpuss guy.

[AmbivalentGuy]

The intention is a positive,
the execution is a negative.

[dezzu]

The proof is in how many people on here use the word "gesture" in their comments, give details about how they or someone they knew held a party, how they loved the dark for that hour, etc. Maybe 5% leave comments about how they conserve on a daily basis. It really will become just another holiday that eats up resources as badly as any other, while generating tons of CO2 in the process.

[sheila]

ok, but now could america get serious about energy, environment and global warming by implementing the fastest, cleanest and most democratic energy policy - a FEED IN TARIFF? when are we going to be paid for putting clean energy into the grid right where it is needed? why are Big Energy mercenaries getting paid to slaughter our wilderness to put wasteful, GHG-spewing Big Solar and Big Wind and Big Transmission when we have more than enough power in every city just on rooftops?

we need democratic, affordable renewable energy! point of use, ratepayer-generated energy that is fairly compensated is the BEST policy to decrease consumption (this is proven), to increase renewables in our grid for FAR less money than Big Energy Boondoggles, and it improves our property values instead of forcing us out of our homes with Eminent Domain!!

we need feed in tariffs NOW! Stop fooling around with stunts, and get some policy!!

[All in All]

I think what most People see as the slow pace of the American Government in implementing a new energy policy, might actually be the lack of willingness of the Legacy Energy Companies to implement Their transition plans at this time.

[Lpeter]

This is a start but everyday should be considered when using and abusing the planet that provides everyting for us and is us as we were sprung from it.

each individual needs to step it up a notch and not look at their fat neighbors with big cars and 5 bails of garbage to be picked up every week.

Be the change. Consume less, recycle everything and stop eating the freaking animals!! Be a vegetarian it is so good for everybody and everything. Peace damn it!

[Middleman420]

If God didn't want us to eat animals, he wouldn't have made them out of meat...

[Puzlfxr]

Or allowed us to invent charcoal grills

[Puzlfxr]

Yummmmy animals
There are what's for dinner.

PETA

People for the
Edible
Treatment of
Animals

[S1m0n]

A great success??

I guess environmentalists have to take their victories where they can find them. From here, 'earth hour' looked like a point-free stunt. Yeah, you probably got a whole bunch of grade 3 classrooms buzzing. So what?

[daedelus]

Wasn't the whole idea to raise awareness? If grade 3 classrooms are buzzing, then great, because they're the ones inheriting the mess people like you have created.

[dashboard]

I hope you don't have any kids....a miserable example you would be.

[rfshunt]

Look at it this way. When those 3rd graders become more aware of their environment, you won't have to yell nearly so loud to get them off your lawn, Grandpa.

[marinade]

When south Florida lost power from hurricanes, people had a good time socializing and eating community meals. There wasn't anything else to do.

Then everyone got generators.....the noise....the stench of gas exhaust....yuck.

[Lpeter]

And the inconsideration as those generators roared thru the evening slicing the silence l;ike a chain saw.

[MamaBird62]

It's very moving to see kids involved with this effort. They have the long-term view and are wondering what kind of mess we'll leave them 60 to 70 years from now.
Find a local environmental project that needs doing and get kids involved.
We're restoring a riparian area inside a park by putting up a split rail fence to keep hikers away from the streambank, and planting the bare areas with native plants. This will help spawning salmon by keeping the water cooler and free of mud.
No one can do everything, but everyone can do something.

[ginxy]

We've decided to do this once a week.

[MissingAmerica]

We need to do this on a regular basis. When we have a dry summer, we are often told in which hours we can water our lawns in order to preserve the water supply. We need to have practical reminders of the importance of conserving. Gas consumption is a big one. We need to be encouraged to car pool or use alternate transportation whenever possible to cut the pollution. Locally, we have a transit system nearby which has grown considerably and made it very reasonable and affordable to get from one city to the other. Sadly, I need to access my local transportation to make that connect, and our local system has cut back considerably. Many have chosen to leave that system and return to their cars. We need to find a way to educate those in control. It will be done!

[purebredNCgal]

One thing I wanna know is why we only do this once a year.... We should do this 3 or four times a year to make an even bigger impact!

[AudacityOfHype]

3 or 4 times a week would make a real impact

[AudacityOfHype]

Maybe soon the government will mandate certain hours as electricity-free. Only then will the message be clearly implemented, and not just a symbolic gesture. We can only hope Washington has enough sense to do this. It's time for environmental action to have a real impact on people's lives! I really fear for our planet and I just pray to the gods of nature, Pan and all the others that this may come to be.

[Kula]

You are out of your mind.

[MamaBird62]

That already happens. They're called rolling black-outs. Ask a Californian.