Singapore's skyline plunges into darkness for "Earth Hour"

Singapore's skyline plunges into darkness for "Earth Hour"
By Sara Grosse | Posted: 23 March 2013 2132 hrs
     
SINGAPORE: In a massive display to show concern for the environment, it was lights out for Singapore's skyline.

Just after 8pm Saturday, several hotels, businesses and companies switched off their lights for Earth Hour. In all, more than 100 buildings around the city centre took part.

The event aims to unite the world in campaigning against climate change by the simple deed of just turning off the lights for one hour.

Some businesses have also pledged to go "beyond the hour".

For example, Marina Bay Sands has rallied team members to adopt environmental-friendly lifestyle changes.

And away from the city centre, it was also lights out in other parts of Singapore.

In Clementi, common lights at three blocks of flats were switched off for an hour from 8.30pm.

As part of the event, residents in the neighbourhood were also encouraged to turn off their lights at home.

Did you switch off your home lights for Earth Hour? Take part in our poll here


- CNA/ir

- wong chee tat :)

S'pore observes Earth Hour, many buildings switch off lights for an hour

S'pore observes Earth Hour, many buildings switch off lights for an hour
By Timothy Ouyang, Channel NewsAsia

SINGAPORE : Thousands of people across Singapore observed Earth Hour on Saturday, as individuals at home and organisations switched off their lights for an hour.

Many parts of Singapore were plunged into darkness, as the lights went off at 8.30pm Singapore time, and remained switched off until 9.30pm.

Earth Hour is a global initiative by the World Wide Fund for Nature to raise awareness of climate change. It is the second year that Earth Hour is being observed in Singapore.

Various hotels across the Marina Bay area switched off their lights at 8.30pm sharp.

Even the Singapore Flyer took part in observing Earth Hour this year.

The Fullerton Hotel dimmed its lights at 8.30pm sharp, while over at Raffles Place, the colourful lights outlining the Maybank building were switched off as well.

Downtown at Orchard Road, shopping malls also joined in to play their part in raising awareness of global warming and climate change.

More than 10,000 people pledged to take part in Earth Hour this year, and more than 450 businesses also said they would switch off their lights.

Earlier, on Saturday evening, hundreds of people gathered at the Esplanade Park for a picnic. Some of them told Channel NewsAsia that they were there to show support for Earth Hour, while others just wanted to have some fun.

Singapore is of one of the many countries in Asia that have joined the world in switching off its lights for 60 minutes.

Altogether, some 83 countries are expected to observe Earth Hour this year.

- CNA/ms

- wong chee tat :)

Sydney first major city to mark Earth Hour 2009

Sydney first major city to mark Earth Hour 2009

March 28th, 2009 By KRISTEN GELINEAU , Associated Press Writer

Enlarge

About a hundred participants in an event to mark Earth Hour celebrate with a group photo after the event in which they freeze their movement for a few minutes at a shopping mall in Beijing, China, Saturday, March 28 , 2009. The lights are going down from the Great Pyramids to the Acropolis, the Eiffel Tower to Sears Tower, as more than 2,800 municipalities in 84 countries plan Saturday to mark the second worldwide Earth Hour. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

(AP) -- The floodlit cream shells of the famed Opera House dimmed Saturday as Sydney became the world's first major city to plunge itself into darkness for the second worldwide Earth Hour, a global campaign to highlight the threat of climate change.

From the Great Pyramids to the Acropolis, the London Eye to the Las Vegas strip, nearly 4,000 cities and towns in 88 countries planned to join in the World Wildlife Fund-sponsored event, a time zone-by-time zone plan to dim nonessential lights between 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.

Involvement in the effort has exploded since last year's Earth Hour, which drew participation from 400 cities after Sydney held a solo event in 2007. Interest has spiked ahead of planned negotiations on a new global warming treaty in Copenhagen, Denmark, this December. The last global accord, the Kyoto Protocol, is set to expire in 2012.

Despite the boost in interest from the Copenhagen negotiations, organizers initially worried enthusiasm for this year's event would wane with the world's attention focused largely on the global economic crisis, Earth Hour executive director Andy Ridley told The Associated Press. Strangely enough, he said, it's seemed to have the opposite effect.

"Earth Hour has always been a positive campaign; it's always around street parties, not street protests, it's the idea of hope not despair. And I think that's something that's been incredibly important this year because there is so much despair around," he said. "On the other side of it, there's savings in cutting your power usage and being more sustainable and more efficient."

In Australia, people attended candlelit speed-dating events and gathered at outdoor concerts as the hour of darkness rolled through the country. Sydney's glittering harbor was bathed in shadows as lights dimmed on the steel arch of the city's iconic Harbour Bridge and the nearby Opera House.

Earlier Saturday, the Chatham Islands, a group of small islands about 500 miles (800 kilometers) east of New Zealand, officially kicked off Earth Hour by switching off its diesel generators. Soon after, the lights of Auckland's Sky Tower, the tallest man-made structure in New Zealand, blinked off.

Forty-four New Zealand towns and cities participated in the event, and more than 60,000 people showed up for an Earth Hour-themed hot air ballooning festival in the city of Hamilton.

At Scott Base in Antarctica, New Zealand's 26-member winter team resorted to minimum safety lighting and switched off appliances and computers.

China was participating in the campaign for the first time, with Beijing turning off the lights at its Bird's Nest Stadium and Water Cube, the most prominent venues for the Olympics, according to WWF. Shanghai was also cutting lights in all government buildings and other structures on its waterfront, while Hong Kong, Baoding, Changchun, Dalian, Nanjing and Guangzhou were also participating, WWF said.

However, the official WWF Earth Hour Web site appeared to be blocked in Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin on Saturday afternoon. While China rarely gives reasons for blocking Web sites, the campaign coincided with the 50th anniversary of the suppression of an uprising in Tibet that forced the Dalai Lama to go into exile.

In Hong Kong, the government planned to suspend its nightly "Symphony of Lights," which beams lasers and lights into the sky from 44 buildings on the city's famed Victoria Harbor. Landmarks along the harbor also were to switch off nonessential lights for an hour.

Later Saturday, Thailand's Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva planned to press a button to turn off the lights at Khao San Road, a famous haven for budget travelers in Bangkok that is packed with bars and outdoor cafes.

Lights were to go down at the Grand Palace and other riverside monuments, and businesses along some of the Thai capital's busiest boulevards were also asked to participate, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration said in a statement.

The capital hoped to reduce electricity consumption in the city of more than 8 million people by at least 30 percent - or 1,400 megawatts - during the event. Earth Hour organizers say there's no uniform way to measure how much energy is saved worldwide.

Earth Hour 2009 has garnered support from global corporations, nonprofit groups, schools, scientists and celebrities - including Oscar-winning actress Cate Blanchett and retired Cape Town Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

McDonald's Corp. planned to dim its arches at 500 locations around the Midwest in the United States. The Marriott, Ritz-Carlton and Fairmont hotel chains and Coca-Cola Co. also planned to participate.

- wong chee tat :)

Earth Hour

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Earth Hour

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