Day 84: Earth Hour!

Tomorrow, Saturday March 26th, is the day that Earth Hour will take place over the globe at 8:30 p.m. EST. Individuals, organizations and governments will power down for one hour.

Earth Hour started in 2007 by about 2 million people in Australia and has now reached over 1.3 billion people in 130 countries around the world. Last year Canada was one of the leading countries, with participants in more than  280 cities. This year there are more than 400 municipalities involved and more than 195 000 Canadians have pledged their participation.

66% of greenhouse gas emissions come from the global energy sector, so by pledging  to participate in Earth Hour you are recognizing the impacts that your energy consumption has on the environment. Some studies have shown that there needs to be an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2050 in order to avoid catastrophic climate change.

Some Canadian Landmarks that are powering down for Earth Hour are: the CN Tower, Parliament Hill,  Edmonton City Hall, Canada Place and the Calgary Tower among others.  Some global landmarks include the Sydney Harbor Bridge in Australia, the Eiffel Tower in France,  the Gateway of India in  India, the Brandenburg Gate in Germany and the Christ the Redeemer Statue in Brazil.

So, check out the Earth Hour website  to find out what time your area is participating and pledge your participation, and for an hour tomorrow power everything down and enjoy life the old fashioned way! I will be doing it - will you?