Here's an email forward you may have read.
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> EARTH HOUR - 7.30pm to 8.30pm Saturday 31 March
2007
At 7.30pm on Saturday 31 March 2007, companies, government departments, individuals and families are encouraged to turn off their lights for just one hour . If we meet our objectives during the first Earth Hour, the savings in green house gas emissions will be the equivalent of taking 75,000 medium sized cars off the road for one whole year!
(Although Earth Hour is a Sydney-initiated event, be sure to take this opportunity to co-operate wherever you are in the world on Saturday 31 March 2007 between 7.30pm and 8.30pm local time.)
Why?
* The climate is changing; the 10 hottest
years on record have occurred since 1990. In fact 2005
was the hottest year since record keeping began.
* More than 95% of the Great Barrier Reef will
have been destroyed by 2050 if carbon dioxide
emissions aren't reduced. (WWF-International)
* One million species worldwide are facing extinction due to climate change.
Goals:
* Households: Most of us use unnecessary electricity. Appliances on standby, old style light bulbs, lights left on when we're not using them.
Earth Hour will help us all to realise just how simply we can make a dramatic impact upon global warming (and our own power bills). We will see it in action.
* Companies: We want companies to be involved.
If every company turned off its lights when the buildings weren't in use, and combined it with energy saving technology, we would save between 2 and 4 million tonnes of greenhouse gasses every year. Earth Hour will show companies just how easy that is.
* To make it an annual event : Out of the
8,766 hours in a year, let's give one back to the
earth.
What you can do:
* Diarise the 31st, set an alarm at 7.25pm, tie a knot in your hair, do whatever works in order
to remember Earth Hour!
* In general: get off standby. Turn off all the electronic equipment and appliances in your home that are not being used or are on standby: Computers, televisions, stereo equipment, phone chargers, DVD or video equipment.
* Spread the word as far and wide as you can.
For more info on Earth Hour, check out www.earthhour.org
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The business about "getting off standby" is a legit thing, by the way -- we wind up burning a bit of power by having big appliances plugged in and waiting for us.
Anyway, it seems like an easy enough thing to do that might make some kind of difference. |
