IT'S EARTH HOUR tonight and the City of Terrace is encouraging residents to participate.
Earth Hour 2012 is from 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm March 31, 2012, an international event during which unnecessary lights and appliances are turned off to demonstrate a willingness to take action against climate change.
All you need to do to participate is to switch off your unnecessary lights and appliances for one hour between 8:30 and 9:30 pm.
It is the city’s hope that all citizens of Terrace will get the message and use this event as motivation to make plans and take action to reduce energy use year round, the city said in a release yesterday.
In 2011, millions of people in over 135 countries joined this symbolic event to show how easy it is to save energy every day. British Columbians alone turned off the equivalent of 7.8 million 15-watt compact fluorescent light bulbs for the hour.
If everyone in B.C. implemented the same conservation measures for just one hour every evening, the combined savings would be enough to power close to 4,000 homes for an entire year.
Earth Hour is organized by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and is held on the last Saturday of March annually.
The first Earth Hour was held in Sydney, Australia in 2007 when 2.2 million residents of Sydney participated by turning off all non-essential lights.
In Victoria, the Parliament Buildings will go dark for Earth Hour as well tonight.
“Whether it’s a candlelight dinner or turning down the heat and bundling up, Earth Hour shows us that we can practise sustainability and still have fun,” provincial environment Minister Terry Lake said in a release.
Last year B.C. saved 117 megawatt hours of electricity, or about 1.8 per cent of the provincial load, according to B.C. Hydro.
For more information check out BC Hydro’s Earth Hour website at:http://www.bchydro.com/news/community_events/earth_hour0.html