Earth Hour - 29 March 2008

Sydney embraced its second Earth Hour tonight, as hundreds of thousands of citizens turned off their lights across the city between 8 and 9pm to make a statement against climate change.

Most skyscrapers in the CBD were darkened, though if the groups gathered in harbourside parks were expecting a sudden blackout, they would have been disappointed - the majority of high-rise buildings had flicked the switch before 8pm.

The Harbour Bridge was a couple of minutes late in joining Earth Hour, but all non-essential lights were shut down by its chief electrician Justin McInerney by about 8.05pm.

By 8.15pm, only a handful of electronic signs and a sprinkling of apartments still appeared brightly lit around the central city, although Star City Casino defied Earth Hour for "operational reasons" and continued to power its thousands of bulbs.

More than 370 locations around the world joined Earth Hour this year after Sydney pioneered the event in 2007.

Suva, in Fiji, and Christchurch in New Zealand became the second cities to take part earlier tonight. A crowd of about 1000 people in the main square of Christchurch saw the event in as Mayor Bob Parker counted down to 8pm local time.

Outside the two cities, hundreds of other businesses and families in New Zealand and Fiji took part, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature, which is organising the global event, for which Fairfax Media, publisher of the Herald, is a supporter.

Israel's largest city, Tel Aviv, had earlier become the first city to participate in Earth Hour this year, switching off its lights on Friday morning Sydney time for religious reasons.

In Sydney tonight, people partied and dined by candlelight as dozens of locations, including Canterbury's Gough Whitlam Park, about 100 people gathered, some of them with home-made lanterns.

David O'Leary brought his sons Joe, six, and Tom, along to join the local event. "It's really only a symbolic thing, coming down here for this, but we've learned in the last couple of weeks how important symbolism can be," Mr O'Leary said.

Conjecture that a darkened Sydney might lead to rash of burglaries also appeared unfounded. A police spokesman told the Herald that early signs indicated that it appeared to be a particularly quiet night.

A crowd of about 100 people at an official function at Mrs Macquarie's Chair cheered as lights winked out in the CBD.

"Earth Hour is a call to action," said Sydney's Lord Mayor Clover Moore. "People have now responded and it's time to introduce some significant long-term changes. One inspired idea that began in Sydney just 12 months ago has become a world movement," she said.

Federal Climate Change Minister Penny Wong also addressed the function, saying the first significant act of the Rudd government was to sign the Kyoto Protocol.

"Earth Hour is a way in which individuals can take responsibility when it comes to climate change," she said.

When the first Earth Hour was staged in Sydney a year ago, an estimated 2.2 million Sydneysiders took part.

Organisers are tipping a massive increase in participation as the event has gone global this year.

"I'm putting my neck on the line but my hope is that we top 100 million people," Earth Hour Australia chief executive Greg Bourne said.
- www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/03/29/12062 07494904.html

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items are from 29 Mar 2008.