The city of Concord announced recently that it will officially support Earth Hour 2009, a global climate event led by the World Wildlife Fund. More than 240 cities around the world have already committed to go dark for one hour on March 28 at 8:30 p.m. as tens of millions of people from all corners of the world unite in a call for global action on climate change. Concord's participation in Earth Hour is initiated by the Concord Energy and Environment Committee.
From Amman to Warsaw, from Boston to San Francisco, city skylines will go dark for one hour as inpiduals, businesses, government buildings, schools and major landmarks turn off non-essential lighting in what will be the largest climate event in history. The list of participating cities in the U.S. includes Atlanta, Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami and Nashville with more signing up every day.
Concord Mayor Jim Bouley stated his strong support for Earth Hour as a “concrete way for the citizens of Concord to demonstrate their strong support for needed change in energy and environmental policy – people care about meeting the challenge of climate change and Earth Hour gives them a way to send that message.”
During Earth Hour 2008, more than 50 million people in 400 cities on all seven continents turned off their lights as major icons also went dark, including the Sydney Opera House, the Coliseum in Rome, Stockholm's Royal Castle, the Empire State Building and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Google turned its homepage black for an entire day in tribute.
For more information, visit earthhourus.org.
Rob Werner
City Councilor
