 Environment - February 27, 2008 |
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Residents, cities asked to turn off all lights for one hour on March 29
Get ready to flip a switch |
By Kevin Ma
Staff Writer
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The World Wildlife Fund is challenging St. Albert to turn off its lights this March to help stop climate change.
The WWF, an international environment group, started its Earth Hour campaign earlier this month. The campaign asks cities to turn off all their lights for one hour on March 29 to pressure governments to act on climate change.
"Absolutely everybody can turn off a light," says spokesperson Julia Langer. "It’s a very accessible, visible and clear indicator of concern and expectation to act."
The event first happened in Sydney, Australia last year, she says, and this year they’re taking it global. About 27 Canadian cities, including Edmonton and Toronto, have signed on, as have ones in the U.S., Europe and Middle East.
Edmonton signed up for the event earlier this week, said Karen Yeung, spokesperson for the city’s Office of the Environment. Three city buildings, including City Hall, have arranged to cut their lights at the appointed time, she says, and the city plans to get more buildings and businesses involved in the weeks to come.
St. Albert is also thinking about joining in, says city environment co-ordinator Leah Jackson. Anything that makes people more aware about their energy use is a good thing, she says, but it will be up to city council to commit to the initiative. "If everyone does something for an hour, look at the difference it can make."
A bright idea?
Earth Hour asks residents to turn off all non-essential lights at 8 p.m. March 29, Langer says. Hospitals and traffic signals would have to keep lights on, she says, as might some businesses.
The event was a great success in Australia last year, Langer says, with about 2.3 million participants cutting Sydney’s power use for the day by about 10 per cent. "It caught people’s imagination at the right time," she says.
Climate change is a huge issue that can leave individuals wondering what to do, Jackson says. Projects like this one show how even small actions such as turning off a light can make an environmental difference.
It wouldn’t be a huge difference, notes Godo Stoyke, head of the local environmental consultancy firm Carbon Busters. Assuming each St. Albert home has four light bulbs (two incandescent, two fluorescent), he estimates that the city would keep about 4.2 tonnes of carbon dioxide out of the air by shutting off their lights for an hour — equivalent to the emissions of three small cars in a year. Edmonton would defer 36 cars-worth, while Alberta could manage 161. Lighting accounts for about 2.4 per cent of an individual’s greenhouse gas emissions, according to Environment Canada.
It’s a symbolic gesture, Langer admits, but the federal government is still at the symbolic stage when it comes to greenhouse gas reductions. "We’re sitting at one of the climatic tipping points," she says. "The Arctic is melting at rates faster than any model has predicted," yet the government is proposing emission cuts in the 65-per-cent range — far below the 80-to-90 per cent levels many researchers have called for.
Torontonians have been enthusiastic about Earth Hour, Langer says, with restaurants arranging candlelit dinners and astronomers holding stargazing sessions in the dark.
Stoyke says his business will have no problems without lights because they use really bright laptops. "Other than that, we’ll have to bring flashlights." Residents should invest in efficient fluorescent or LED bulbs to reduce their energy use for the rest of the year, he advises.
Jackson says the Environmental Advisory Committee will discuss Earth Hour at an upcoming meeting.
The campaign’s website is earthhour.org. |
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