Earth Hour – can you survive one hour?

The 2009 Earth Hour will take place this Saturday, March 28th, at 8:30 pm (local time). During this event, people from all over the world are asked to turn off electronics - smartphones, computers, lights, etc. - for one full hour. This year's event organizers, the World Wildlife Fund, are hoping for 1 billion participants and have turned the 2009 event into a sort of election between Earth and global warming, saying that switching your lights off is a vote for Earth, while leaving them on is a vote for global warming. The WWF plan to present the results of the "election" to world leaders at the Global Climate Change Conference later this year.

Earth Hour first began in Sydney, Australia in 2007, when 2.2 million businesses and residents turned off their lights. During the following year, 2008, such world landmarks as the Golden Gate Bridge, the Colosseum, the Sydney Opera House and the Coca Cola billboard in Times Square all jumped on board and went dark for the hour. This year, the Empire State Building, the Acropolis and the Eiffel Tower all plan to participate, and many electronics manufactures have joined the cause as well.

According to an eWeek article, the following companies have taken action for Earth Hour:

-Research in Motion has launched a special website for their Blackberry users supporting Earth Hour.

-Belkin International released a statement reminding people of the importance of Earth hour and that they should remember to make sure to unplug devices from standby power to save the most electricity.

-HSBC will have all employees switch of all non-essential electronics, such as light, TVs and computers for the hour.

-Vodacom, South Africa's largest cellular network, will turn off its electronic billboards and shut off lights at 15 offices throughout the country.

-Suntech Power Holdings will turn off lights at its solar headquarters in China and hold an event themed "What do we do if the Earth has no electricity?"

-Con Edison will turn off the lights at the company's Manhattan headquarters and have teamed up with WWF to ask NYC resides to join the cause.

The concept is simple enough and an hour is such a short amount of time, but will you participate? Can you shut off your iPhone or TV for one hour in the name of the Earth?



-posted by Stephanie