Lights Dim Around The World For Earth Hour

Residents, Businesses Turn Off Lights For One Hour To Highlight Threat Of Global Warming

(CBS/AP)  From an Antarctic research base to the Great Pyramids of Egypt and beyond, the world switched off the lights on Saturday for Earth Hour, dimming skyscrapers, city streets and some of the world's most recognizable monuments for 60 minutes to highlight the threat of climate change.

Time zone by time zone, nearly 4,000 cities and towns in 88 countries joined the event sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund to dim nonessential lights from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

An agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012, is supposed to be reached in Copenhagen, Denmark, this December, and environmentalists' sense of urgency has spurred interest in this year's Earth Hour. Last year, only 400 cities participated; Sydney held a solo event in 2007.

In Bonn, WWF activists held a candlelit cocktail party on the eve of a U.N. climate change meeting, the first in a series of talks leading up to Copenhagen. The goal is to get an ambitions deal to curb emissions of heat-trapping gases that scientists say are dangerously warming the planet.

"People want politicians to take action and solve the problem," said Kim Carstensen, director of the global climate initiative for WWF, speaking in a piano bar bathed by candlelight and lounge music.

Organizers initially worried enthusiasm this year would wane with the world focused on the global economic crisis, Earth Hour executive director Andy Ridley told The Associated Press. But he said it apparently had the opposite effect.

"Earth Hour has always been a positive campaign; 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," he said.

The Chatham Islands, a small chain about 500 miles east of New Zealand, switched off its diesel generators to officially begin Earth Hour. Soon after, the lights of Auckland's Sky Tower, the tallest man-made structure in New Zealand, blinked off.

At Scott Base in Antarctica, New Zealand's 26-member winter team resorted to minimum safety lighting and switched off appliances and computers.

In Australia, people attended candlelit speed-dating events and gathered at outdoor concerts as the hour of darkness rolled through. Sydney's glittering harbor was bathed in shadows as lights dimmed on the steel arch of the city's iconic Harbour Bridge and the nearby Opera House.

The Philippines plunged into darkness as well as 647 cities and towns joined in Earth Hour, reports CBS News' Barnaby Lo. It is the largest show of support among over 85 participating countries this year. Last year's Philippine Earth Hour, with only 50 participating cities, amounted to energy savings equivalent to shutting down a coal power plant for one hour.

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Earth Hour slideshow.

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Tonight, an estimated 10-15 million Filipinos switched off their lights in what organizers call "a vote for the Earth," and a message for world leaders who are meeting in Copenhagen in December to tackle global warming and climate change, Lo reports.

And in Egypt, the Great Pyramids darkened, as did the Sphinx.

To the West, floodlights at the Acropolis in Athens were switched off and an outdoor concert was staged on an adjacent hill, which many Athenians approached in a candlelight procession. The Athens International Airport switched off the lights on one of its two runways.

In that other great ancient city, Rome, the Colosseum and St. Peter's Basilica were plunged into darkness.

In Paris, the Eiffel Tower, Louvre and Notre Dame Cathedral were among 200 monuments and buildings that went dark. The Eiffel Tower, however, only extinguished its lights for five minutes for security reasons because visitors were on the tower, said WWF France spokesman Pierre Chasseray.

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Visit the Earth Hour Web site to learn more.

Watch U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's video message about Earth Hour.

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"Above all in the current economic crisis, we should send a signal for climate protection," said Klaus Wowereit, the mayor of Berlin, one in a handful of German cities switching off lights at city halls and television towers for Earth Day for the first time.

Meanwhile, the Swiss city of Geneva switched off the lights on theaters, churches and monuments. Among them were the Reformation Wall, where floodlights normally illuminate 10-foot statues of John Calvin and other leaders of Protestantism. The city's motto engraved on either side of the statues is: "After darkness, light."

All of Spain's 52 provincial capitals turned off some lights an hour after sunset, silhouetting unlit landmarks such as the royal palace and parliament in Madrid, the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, and the Alhambra palace in Granada against darkening dusk skies.

A key 2010 football World Cup qualifier against Serbia posed a dilemma for Romanians. "Shall we watch the match or turn off the lights?," the 7plus daily asked in its main front-page headline.

The U.N. headquarters in New York and other facilities were dimming their lights to signal the need for global support for a new climate treaty.

U.N. Secretary Ban Ki-moon called Earth Hour "a way for the citizens of the world to send a clear message: They want action on climate change."

China participated for the first time, cutting the lights at Beijing's Bird's Nest Stadium and Water Cube, the most prominent 2008 Olympic venues.

In Bangkok, the prime minister switched off the lights on Khao San Road, a haven for budget travelers packed with bars and outdoor cafes.

Earth Hour organizers say there's no uniform way to measure how much energy is saved worldwide.

Earth Hour 2009 has garnered support from global corporations, nonprofit groups, schools, scientists and celebrities - including Oscar-winning actress Cate Blanchett and retired Cape Town Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

McDonald's Corp. planned to dim its arches at 500 locations around the U.S. Midwest. The Marriott, Ritz-Carlton and Fairmont hotel chains and Coca-Cola Co. also planned to participate.

[problem09]

The sad thing is that both sides of this arguement are going on only what they are told. I happen to think that Global Warming isn't that big of a problem due to we don't really know anything. We only go on guesses and weak studies, no matter how much money you throw at a study it will never be completely accurate. We won't know what will happen until it does. Our computer models use data of what happened in the past to try to predict what will our climate will be in the future. And the people who use these models put in data to get the results they want. There will be no real unbiased studies no matter what you say. People should try to take care of their piece of the planet but we have no wayof knowing if we are the cause of this warming.

[oldpilot954]

Remember -- "just because the temperatures are getting colder doesn't mean global warming is not taking place".

[luadda22]

The only thing that bothers me, is what should the temp. of the earth be? Unless we know the answer to that question, how do we know if it should be warmer or cooler. Besides I would think that warmer is better. More people die from freezing than heat stroke.

[credibility2]

In the Chicago-area, Commonwealth Edison reported only about a 1% decrease in electrical consumption during Earth Hour last evening. Last year, the decrease was 5%. They're trying to blame this year's percentage drop on colder weather, which is nonsense. I think people are sick and tired about this sort of stuff. The great protectors of the environment. Go figure, they're promoting the use of energy efficient light bulbs that use toxic and harmful mercury. The same people who want an end to water bottles, while saying nothing against the hideous amounts of disposable diapers or other types of disposable bottles and containers.

[rbstrcklnd]

This must be some sort of conspiracy where these people turning off lights are getting money. I'm sure thats what a republican would tell you.
Posted by melchg

*********

No, they would tell you the world is full of ignorant followers, "look at me, I care about the environment, I turned off all my lights". Funny thing, my neighborhood had lights on as usual.

[jmca2009]

All the charts are showing temps around the world have taken a sharp drop in the last year or 2 and are almost back down to average.
http://www.worldclimatereport.com/index.php/2009/01/07/us-temperatures-2008-back-to-the-future/
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2008/02/19/january-2008-4-sources-say-globally-cooler-in-the-past-12-months/

Problem is if you examine the charts at this link:
http://muller.lbl.gov/pages/IceAgeBook/history_of_climate.html
You can see we are still lower than the temps around 1000AD and Rome 0AD. Also if you look at the long term trends (millions of years) you can see the temps are all over the place - How do they explain that?

US was covered under mile thick ice sheets at one time and some how melted all those glaciers without any SUV's being driven around.
Eartth's climate is much too erratc to conclude that Man is somehow altering the tempatures one way or the other.

[maxxzilla]

Here is the solution! http://www.vhemt.org/

[hankvreeland]

Hey democracy and evil. I gave you the reference you requested. Apparently you can't be bothered checking to either refute or confirm them. I leave you with a quote from a Chinese proverb, "A closed mind is like a closed book; just a block of wood"

[hankvreeland]

Hey democracy and evil. Of course human emissions add a minor portion to the changes going on today. Now please go to the library and look up some references to the Carboniferous Period. You will find that the average global temperatures at that time were 68F as compared to 58F today and that average CO2 levels were 1500ppm as compared to 350ppm today. That geologic period by the way produced the vegetation that subsequently transformed into the much condemned coal being burned today. Now how about some effort in planning in how we are going to survive in a world that we can not prevent from changing.

[democracy1]

The volume of these gases produced by man compared to the levels that existed in the geologic past are small.
Posted by hankvreeland at 10:10 AM : Mar 29, 2009

What a load of nonsense! Provide a reputable science-based limk to back that up. (You can't.)

I've asked you naysayers repeatedly to cite a link to your absurd assertions and you consistently fail to do so. Just because you want to state something doesn't mean that it's a fact!

You would have failed miserably in my debate and logic classes in college.

Get a GED! LOL!

[hankvreeland]

Hey democracy, no one questions that as long as humans breathe that they will exhale CO2 or that as long as they eat that they will emit CH4. The volume of these gases produced by man compared to the levels that existed in the geologic past are small. The dispute is with the arrogance that claims that puny mankind can make a damn bit of difference in what is happening today. If all of this feel good effort were spent on planning how to survive in a world that we can not prevent from changing it might be worth while.

[democracy1]

Hey democracy, are you really saying that the Sahara was not once fertile and populated with wildlife or that Greenland was not once heavily forested?
Posted by hankvreeland at 9:01 AM : Mar 29, 2009

Of course they were. Any intelligent being knows that things have changed over time. If you were paying attention, you would have noticed that I agreed that "there are natural fluctuations" in EVERY ONE OF my precious posts. So your question is moot since I've already stated that we (and every intelligent climatologist) already agrees that natural fluctuations occur over time.

One thing I've noticed that YOU haven't addressed is my discussion about how natural changes AND man-made changes can occur AT THE SAME TIME, and, by doing so, increase the effects even further.

As I said in previous posts, you naysayers seem to think that only 1 thing can be happening at a time. Intelligent people recognize the fact that a number of things could be happening concurrently and take that into account.

Don't bother responding unless you can cite reliable scientific sources to refute my arguments. I'm willing to engage in any REAL debate regarding science, but not a pi$$ing contest in which you can't even back up your statements.

If you can't, then I stand by my belief that you are, indeed, a fool.

[hankvreeland]

Hey NOinhale, be careful of what you say or democracy1 is going to call you a Ludite. Please excuse his limited vocabulary.

[hankvreeland]

Hey democracy, are you really saying that the Sahara was not once fertile and populated with wildlife or that Greenland was not once heavily forested?

[democracy1]

Hey democracy, do you have any other gems of wisdom to share with us in addition to ?You, sir Luddite, are the idiot!?. The erudition is astounding.
Posted by hankvreeland at 8:51 AM : Mar 29, 2009

I have shared many "gems of wisdom" with you. When you start thinking in terms of real science instead of simply being a naysaying reactionary with no evidence to back you up, then I might consider you as something more than a "Luddite".

Until then, your posts prove what I've said. Live with it.

[hankvreeland]

Hey democracy, do you have any other gems of wisdom to share with us in addition to ?You, sir Luddite, are the idiot!?. The erudition is astounding.

[democracy1]

Hey democracy, those major temperature fluctuations predated humans by millions of years. It is pretty damn egotistical to claim either that humans are the major cause of what is going on now or that we have any ability to change it's course.
Posted by hankvreeland at 8:24 AM : Mar 29, 2009

Climatologists are aware that there have been natural fluctuations and they fully take them into account when doing their statistical analyses.

For you to claim that you know better than these scientists is YOUR egotism.

And further, the point is not whether or not we can change natural cycles (we can't), but whether or not we will choose to increase their effects due to our own irresponsible behavior.

It's rather obvious that you need to get an education.

[democracy1]

This is the silly. we think we cause global warming (when in fact we have been in a 9+ year cooling cycle).

This is what happens when people listen to libs. It is all about feelings...how we feel. "Oh, I turned off my lights for an hour...I feel so good about myself. I'm helping."

What a bunch of idiots. Use your heads!
Posted by mortar29 at 8:19 AM : Mar 29, 2009

Please cite the source for your statement, if you can. From a reliable credible scientific source.

I think you have been listening to Rush a little too long.

The vast majority of climatologists would disagree with what you said. But I know that wouldn't matter to you, since you're obviously happy to be nothing more than an uneducated partisan hack who would rather dismiss evidence contrary to your beliefs than to admit you're wrong.

You, sir Luddite, are the idiot!

[hankvreeland]

Hey democracy, those major temperature fluctuations predated humans by millions of years. It is pretty damn egotistical to claim either that humans are the major cause of what is going on now or that we have any ability to change it's course.

[democracy1]

please tell me how humans can prevent a natural cycle of temperature fluctuation that has repeated since this planet first condensed out of a cloud of gas.
Posted by hankvreeland

We can't prevent it. Our over growing population will have to adapt, not only to climate changes, but also to limited natural resources. Most people don't worry about it since the consequences won't happen in our lifetime.
Posted by displeased at 8:09 AM : Mar 29, 2009

We can't prevent natural changes, but we CAN decrease the increased influence that our behavior might have on those natural changes.

As to your assertion that "it won't happen in our lifetime", you are either very old and won't be around much longer to see it or you don't care what future generations will have to face.

OR possibly you are being truthful in that many people DON'T take it seriously (even though they should, especially if they DO have kids), because they don't think that THEY will have to deal with it.