Earth Hour -- forwarded by Dr. Leo Rebello

[Guest guest]

 

EARTH HOUR - 7.30pm to 8.30pm - Saturday March 31, 2007Earth Hour is a fabulous opportunity for you and your family to do somethingabout climate change. On one night, in one hour, more will be done, more will be demonstrated, and more will be learned than through a hundred'talk-fests'. And you can help make it happen.What is Earth Hour?It sounds simple, but it is very, very dramatic. At 7.30pm on March 31st2007, we will be encouraging companies, government departments, individualsand families to turn off their lights for just one hour. If we meet ourobjectives during the first Earth Hour, the savings in green house gas emissions will be the equivalent of taking 75,000 medium sized cars off theroad for one whole year! Now that's something worth doing.Why?The facts are alarmingly clear:· The climate is changing! The 10 hottest years on record have occurred since 1990. In fact 2005 was the hottest year since record keepingbegan. (Australian Bureau of Meteorology)· Almost 70% of Australia's greenhouse gas emissions come from energyproduction. (ABS) · More than 95% of the Great Barrier Reef will have been destroyed by2050 if carbon dioxide emissions aren't reduced. (WWF-International)· One million species worldwide are facing extinction due to climate change. (University of Leeds)But not everybody listens to the facts. Earth Hour is your opportunity todemonstrate how a simple change in our way of life could change, and helpsave, our planet.The goals of Earth Hour: · Households : Most of us use unnecessary electricity. Appliances onstandby, 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 seeit in action.· Companies : We want companies to be involved. If every company inAustralia turned off its lights when the buildings weren't in use, and combined it with energy saving technology, we would save between 2 and 4million tonnes of greenhouse gasses every year. Earth Hour will showcompanies just how easy that is.· Power Companies : We will be asking power companies to provide special deals for companies and households to switch to Green Power.· To make it an annual event : Out of the 8,766 hours in a year, let'sgive one back to the earth.What you can do:· Sign up to Earth Hour and Pledge to turn off your lights on March31st from 7.30pm to 8.30pm by logging ontowww.earthhour.org< http://www.earthhour.org/> .You will receive all the information you need to make Earth Hour a greatsuccess (and to cut your own energy bills in the long term). Pledging isfree.· 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 videoequipment - you can find out more about this from WWF at wwf.org.au<http://wwf.org.au/>· Tell a friend : Spread the word about earth Hour by involving yourfriends, family and workmates. Get them to pledge at earthhour.org<http://earthhour.org/> and most importantly, turn off the lights at 7.30pmSaturday 31 March 2007.· Another thing you can do before the event is switch to Green Power: Contact your electricity provider today. If all Australians switched toGreen Power the saving in CO 2 emissions would be the equivalent of what ispumped out of 40 million cars! That's like taking every car in Australia off the road four times over.· Spread the word - Once you have signed up for Earth Hour tell afriend; spread the word at work; tell your boss; mention it at school, atyour local sports club or society group, you can even run it past your neighbours!· Make it an event. Get the neighbours to switch off their lights andhead out into the park for the hour; take some binoculars and look at thestars; sit and talk; explore your backyard by torchlight; have fun with sparklers; or just go for a stroll. Do something non-electric as a family$B!2(J make some candles, read by their light; have a picnic-at-dusk;pretend you are camping; have a candlelight dinner.For more info on Earth Hour, check out www.earthhour.org<http://www.earthhour.org/>