Focus: Turn off
lights for Earth Hour
BEIJING, March 27 (Xinhua) -- More than a century after American inventor Thomas Edison led the world out of
darkness with the first ever man-made electric lamp, people all over the world
once again turned their lights off for an hour to help enhance public awareness
of environment and give the world a brighter future.
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This combo of views shows the Sydney
Opera House with the lights on and the lights off during "Earth Hour,"
March 28, 2009. The waters of Sydney Harbour plunged into darkness with
the iconic Opera House and Harbour Bridge killing their lights for an hour
in a global call for swift action on climate change.(Xinhua/AFP
Photo)
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Gallery>>> |
GROWING
POPULARITY
The event, known as the "Earth Hour," began in Sydney
in 2007 when the city turned off its lights to highlight the world's
environmental problem. In 2008, the event turned into a global campaign that has
drawn the participation of hundreds of towns and cities worldwide.
This year, close to 1 billion people from over 2,000
towns and cities in 84 countries are expected to join the lights-off event on
8:30 pm local time on Saturday. When the 3-year-old event "darkens" more places
in the world, it helps bring a brighter future to the planet Earth.
The "Earth Hour" originally aims at arousing the
public awareness of energy conservation, and cutting emissions of greenhouse gas
and other pollutants, thus minimizing the negative effects of climate change.
It is true that turning off the lights for one hour
has very limited effect on climate change, but its significance is more than
symbolic, as the event is gaining greater attention and spreading far and wide.
The idea of sustainable development began to take
shape since 1962 when American biologist Rachel Carson published his book
"Silent Spring." However, until recent decades people remain addicted to massive
industrial development, burdening the earth with excessive energy consumption.
Just as the theme of this year's "Earth Hour" -- "Vote Earth! Your Light Switch
is Your Vote" indicates, the world today needs more than mere sophisticated
ideas, it needs concrete and immediate actions.
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The Toronto city skyline, normally aglow
with lights from office buildings, is seen dark during Earth Hour in
Toronto, March 29, 2008.(Xinhua/Reuters File Photo)
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"WALK
TOGETHER"
Tackling climate change has become a major global
concern, and numerous negotiations on the issue are underway since the United
Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), or the Earth Summit,
held in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
As a grassroots endeavor joined by people around the
world, "Earth Hour" transcend national boundaries and the interests of specific
parties. It helped to achieve what international conventions are incapable of
doing: people voluntarily commit themselves to do their share to combat climate
change.
With mass participation worldwide, the campaign may
also serve as a model in the global efforts to face up to other environmental
challenges such as water, land and air pollution, vegetation deterioration and
species extinction.
As UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in his
address on annual lights-off campaign: "We need green growth that benefits all
communities. We need sustainable energy for a more climate-friendly, prosperous
world. This is the path of the future. We must walk it together."
REMEDY FOR WORLD
ECONOMY
This year's event seems to be all the more
significant compared with the previous two in view of the worsening economic
downturn,
Besides the practical concern about more effective
use of energy and further emission reduction in time of crisis, people should be
clear that their greater awareness of and better measures for environmental
protection will add vigor and vitality to global sustainable development.
As some experts noted, more effective environmental
protection measures not only serve as feasible means to tackle climate change,
they help create new jobs and encourage a greater number of green innovations,
and help relieve the world economy of its current crisis.
