Metro Manila, other RP areas plunge into darkness for 1 hour
Saturday, March 28, 2009At around 8:30 last night, church bells in Manila began pealing. In Makati, the sirens of the city’s police cars and fire trucks joined the peal of church bells in signaling the start of Earth Hour, when all around the world, people who care for the environment switched off lights in a gesture of helping the Earth fight global warming and climate change.
All over Metro Manila, many households began shutting off lights.
In many cities and municipalities in the country, many residential communities and commercial establishments shut or dimmed lights.
Metro Manila is one of more than 2,800 cities and municipalities in 84 countries marking the observance of the second worldwide Earth Hour.
According to an Associated Press report, seven times more cities signed up for Earth Hour, which drew participation from 400 cities in 2008, after Sydney, Australia, held a solo event in 2007.
McDonald’s softened the yellow glow from some Golden Arches as part of the time zone-by-time plan to dim non-essential lights between 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. to highlight global climate change, the AP said.
Many of the world’s landmarks, from the Great Pyramids in Egypt to the Acropolis in Greece, the Eiffel Tower in France and Sear Towers in the US, usually lit up at night, went dark at the appointed hour.
In Makati, the observance of Earth Hour was led by the event’s ambassador, Mayor Jejomar Binay, World Wildlife Fund representatives, and leaders of various local and international environmental groups.
An hour and a half before the Earth Hour, they gathered at Tower One of the Exchange Plaza on Ayala Avenue to kick off the global event, which is now on its second year.
In his keynote speech, Binay reminded people that the “global crusade to save our environment” should not be seen as a once-a-year event but as a commitment to make this advocacy a part of their everyday lives.
“For the sake of our children, grandchildren, and all the future generations, we must continue to take collective and coordinated steps to mitigate climate change. As we always say here in Makati, every positive action we take, no matter how small, when taken together, advances the common good,” he said.
“Let us also keep in mind that...there is no better time to start than right now. Apathy and inaction would be tantamount to writing our own death sentence, along with that of all other living creatures, and the destruction of man-made and inanimate things on earth” he said. “My friends, what we will do tonight might seem a simple act. But this simple act done simultaneously in households and establishments in cities all over the nation and the world, when taken altogether, can make a tangible impact on global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” he said.
After the program, sirens of fire trucks and patrol cars echoed throughout the city while churches in Makati began pealing their bells at around 8:20 pm.
At the stroke of 8:30, street lights in 27 roads and around public buildings in Makati City were switched off. Even street lights within the posh Salcedo and Legaspi Villages were turned off.
In the Makati Central Business District, private establishments dimmed lights as part of their commitment to reduce electric consumption by 50 percent.
According to Department of Environmental Services (DES) chief Danilo Villas business establishments such as the Ayala Foundation Inc. (AFI), Ayala Land Inc. (ALI), Ayala Property Management Corp. (APMC), Ayala Malls, SM Makati, Makati Commercial Estates Association (MACEA), Chino Roces Estates Association (CREA), and Manila Water Company, Inc. (MWCI) were among those who participated in the lights-off event.
The Department of Education-Makati, Makati Liga ng mga Barangay, Makati Police, Makati Fire Department, Rotary Club of Makati, Makati Environment Foundation, Inc., Clean Cities Makati Coalition (CCMC), Association of Metro Manila Environment Officers (AMMEO), Council of Philippine Clean Cities Coalition (CPCCC), and USAID-Sustainable Energy Development Program (SEDP) also pledged their participation.
Also in the "lights off" list are monuments, pedestrian lights, and double-arm street lights along Ayala Avenue, Makati Avenue, and Paseo de Roxas.
The Makati Police, the Department of Public Safety (DPS) and the barangay Bantay Bayan were directed to maintain high visibility during the one hour lights-off period, which was duplicated in key cities in Europe, Asia and the Americas.
The World Wide Fund (WWF) lauded Makati and its Sangguniang Panlungsod for passing City Resolution No. 2008-056 declaring the yearly observance of Earth Hour in the city.
