Turn off the lights for Earth Hour
Saturday, March 28, 2009by John Faherty - Mar. 28, 2009 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
You can do your part to help save the planet tonight at 8:30.
All you have to do is turn off the lights.
Earth Hour is a global effort for people, businesses and governments to unplug for one hour.
If you want to take part, you should also shut off TVs, radios, computers and anything else considered non-essential.
The idea is to use as little energy as possible for that hour.
The gesture, mostly symbolic, is meant to convey that everyone can help reduce carbon-dioxide emissions, which contribute to global warming.
The image is fairly striking.
A darkened skyline can help illustrate how much energy is typically in use.
Among the more dramatic places to go dark today will be in Egypt at the great Pyramids of Giza, in Athens at the Acropolis and even the Eiffel Tower in Paris, which is commonly referred to as the City of Lights.
Earth Hour is set up to happen from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. in each time zone.
Last year, Phoenix was considered a key city for Earth Hour because it was one of just four major cities to participate.
This year, not so much. City buildings will be mostly dark, but that's because it's a Saturday night.
"What happened last year was it cost us about $3,000 to turn off all the lights," said Scott Phelps, Mayor Phil Gordon's spokesman. "We have a budget issue."
Phelps said Phoenix is joining in on the event, but it will not go out of its way to go dark.
In Arizona, only Peoria and Pima County are officially listed as participating with the event organizers, the World Wildlife Fund.
It all started in March 2007 in Sydney, Australia, where people turned things off for one hour on a Saturday night.
Because of widespread cooperation among government agencies, business and individuals, energy usage in Sydney dropped by more than 10 percent, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
Electrical power in Arizona comes from a combination of sources, mostly nuclear, coal and natural gas, so a reduction in power usage would reduce carbon emissions.
