LIGHTS OUT FOR EARTH HOUR

“It’s a simple act, but a powerful call to action”. This is how WWF Director General Jim Leape described Earth Hour, the international campaign during which lights are turned out for one hour to show support for action on climate change. Hundreds of millions of people participated in the 2010 Earth Hour.

This year, a record 126 countries and territories, over 4,000 cities, towns and municipalities and hundreds of millions of people across the globe took part in delivering a powerful action of hope for a better, healthy planet. Individuals, businesses, governments and communities turned off their lights for one hour on Saturday 27 March 2010 at 20:30.

The event began in Sydney in 2007, when 2 million people switched off their lights. In 2008, more than 50 million people around the globe participated. In 2009, participation swelled to hundreds of millions as 4159 cities, towns and municipalities in 88 countries and many of the world’s best known landmarks participated.

Andy Ridley Co-Founder and Executive Director of Earth Hour said, “The response from citizens, businesses and government has been truly phenomenal. Crossing geographic, economic and cultural boundaries, it has brought together people from all over the planet to celebrate the one thing we all share – the place we live.”

Cape Town celebrated Earth Hour in unique style; over 80 children from disadvantaged backgrounds were invited to play in a special game of ‘glow-in-the-dark’ beach football on Muizenberg Beach in Cape Town.

Landmarks to go dark included Table Mountain, Nelson Mandela Bridge, Nelson Mandela Square, World Cup venue Soccer World Cup Stadium: Moses Mabhida Stadium.

An impressive 50 cities switched off for Earth Hour across South Africa, with the support of 20 ambassadors. The ambassadors included; Nobel Peace Prize winner, Archbishop Desmond Tutu; previous Miss South Africa and TV Presenter, Jo-Ann Strauss; Springbok Rugby players, Bryan Habana and Percy Montgomery together with Super 14 Rugby team, The Stormers.

South African Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Archbishop Desmond Tutu said, “Earth Hour is an opportunity for every man, woman and child from all corners of the globe to unite and show the world that by working together we can win the battle against global warming."

Eskom has indicated that Saturday night’s electricity reduction during Earth Hour will be tallied over the next few days. Around 400 megawatts of the country’s energy was saved during last year’s display.

Eskom’s Andrew Etzinger said the campaign should make people more aware of their energy consumption. “We really must get a hold of the link between electricity consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. Basically the whole climate change issue is manageable if, from a consumption point of view, we manage the way in which we use electricity and conserve it,” he said.