Focus: Turn off lights for Earth Hour

    by Xinhua writers Wang Jiangang, Bai Jie and Gu Zhenqiu

    NEW YORK, March 28 (Xinhua) -- As for the 3rd-grader Daniel Klina, one hour at a regular weekend evening doesn't mean much, but Earth Hour on Saturday evening mattered a lot.

    "Although it was an hour of darkness, it seems like a beacon lighting our way forward," she said, adding: "I have realized that all of us should do something so as to save the earth."

    Tens of thousands of people in Times Square, New York, were standing in this "Crossroads of the World" on Saturday evening, as many of the massive billboards, including the giant Coca-Cola display, darkened.

    "I was shocked, although it was expected, when I saw the lights on these massive billboards go out and become sort of huge blackboards in our school," said Klina, who was with a number of kids from families knowing each other well.

    Kate Klina, mother of Daniel Klina, thought it was worth taking the children to Times Square to "have a sense of how adults" were eager to "keep the Earth a good place to live."

    "I don't think the Earth Hour could save a lot, but it has planted the seeds of crisis in the minds of these kids," said KateKlina. "The kids will realize this evening that if we do not take good care of the Earth, then human beings will have to live in harsh conditions beyond our imagination."

    Times Square, sometimes known as the "Crossroads of the World," has achieved the status of an iconic world landmark and has become a symbol of the city. Times Square is principally defined by its spectaculars, animated, digital advertisements.

    The theaters of Broadway and the huge number of animated neon and LED signs have long made it one of New York's iconic images, and a symbol of the intensely urban aspects of Manhattan. Times Square is the only neighborhood with zoning ordinances requiring building owners to display illuminated signs. The density of illuminated signs in Times Square now rivals that of Las Vegas.

    Speaking of the significance of Earth Hour, a man who only gave his first name as Dick said: "They are doing this is because they want to reduce the carbon footprints of the world."

    Noting that people will realize how they "could start being more responsible" for their carbon footprints, and start saving some electricity, Dick said people could do by driving less and taking more mass transportation.

    "People should be more careful about the Earth," he added.

    New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he felt honored that his city was able to take part.

    "We are glad to be able to participate and it's a good reminder that we are in charge of our destiny," he said.

    Blue Fin, a member of the U.S. National Green Restaurant Association, was participating in the World Wild Life Fundation's Earth Hour Saturday evening.

    "We are doing this just because we are trying to reduce the carbon imprints, at least for this hour and I hope it will go forward as well, said Thomas Brown of Blue Fin, a restaurant just 60 meters away from the Coco-Cola billboard.

    "Earth Hour, although symbolic, will help the other people see the way how we use energy and how we can control our energy better."

    The restaurant lowered the lights and turned off the central cooking machine and extra large machines in the back, said Brown.

    "We should do our part to make sure that we leave the world in the best condition for our children and grandchildren, and our children's children by starting to make a change right now, and making those changes into a reality is a good thing for all of us."

    As a symbolic action, the United Nations observed Earth Hour for the fist time at its headquarters in New York and at other UN facilities around the world, as part of an effort to mobilize global support for a new UN agreement to address climate change when governments meet in Copenhagen in December.

    Earth Hour, launched two years ago in Australia by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) which is a global conservation organization, calls for people to turn off their nonessential lights for one hour starting at 8:30 p.m. local time.

    UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in a video-taped address to mark the event, called Earth Hour "a way for the citizens of the world to send a clear message. They want action on climate change."

    "It promises to be the largest demonstration of public concern about climate change ever attempted," Ban said, adding that the deal to emerge from Copenhagen must be ambitious, fair and effective, and based on sound science.