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Earth Hour

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File:Earth-Hour-Logo.jpg
The logo for Earth Hour

Earth Hour is an annual international event created by WWF (The World Wide Fund for Nature/World Wildlife Fund), held on the last Saturday of March, that asks households and businesses to turn off their non-essential lights and electrical appliances for one hour to raise awareness towards the need to take action on climate change. It was pioneered by WWF Australia and the Sydney Morning Herald in 2007[1], and achieved worldwide participation in 2008.

Earth Hour will next take place on Saturday, March 28 2009 at 8:30pm, local time.

Earth Hour 2008

With 35 cities around the world participating as official flagship cities and over 400 cities also supporting, Earth Hour 2008 was a major success, celebrated on all seven continents. Iconic landmarks all around the world turned off their non-essential lighting for Earth Hour which included the Empire State Building (New York City), Sears Tower (Chicago), Golden Gate Bridge (San Francisco), Bank of America Plaza (Atlanta), Sydney Opera House (Sydney, Australia), Wat Arun Buddhist Temple (Bangkok, Thailand), the Colosseum (Rome, Italy), Royal Castle (Stockholm, Sweden), London's City Hall (England), Space Needle (Seattle), and the CN Tower (Toronto, Canada).

The official website for the event, earthhour.org, received over 6.7 million unique visitors in the week leading up to Earth Hour. Other websites took part in the event, with Google's homepage going "dark" on the day Earth Hour took place.

According to a Zogby International online survey 36 million people participated in Earth Hour 2008, with an estimated 50 million doing the same around the world. The survey also showed there was a 4 percentage point increase in awareness of environmental issues such as climate change, directly after the event.

2008 Participants

Scheduling

Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House were darkened during Earth Hour 2007.

Before 2008, San Francisco had been running a "Lights Out" program of their own that occurred in October.[5] For 2008, it was being moved to March 29 to align with Australia's Earth Hour. This also happens to be the year that Earth Hour became an international event and San Francisco was asked to be a partner city in Earth Hour. Rather than have a competing event, San Francisco is supporting Earth Hour and all Lights Out efforts will now move to supporting the international Earth Hour event. Since Earth Hour for 2008 is on a Saturday, many high schools in the Greater Toronto Area participated by turning off half the lights in classrooms during the last hour of school on Friday, March 28, 2008. Although the tagline of Earth Hour 2008 is officially, "See the difference you can make," the official radio advertisement ended with the tagline, "Dark city, bright idea."

Many buildings in Sydney also turned off their lights in 2007.

Tel Aviv scheduled their Earth Hour for Thursday March 27, 2008 to avoid conflict with Sabbath.[6] Dublin moved their Earth Hour to between 9 and 10 p.m. due to their northern geographical location.[7]

Energy saved

Colosseum darkened for Earth Hour 2008

According to WWF Thailand, Bangkok decreased electricity usage by 73.34 megawatts, which, over one hour, is equivalent to 41.6 tonnes of carbon dioxide.[8] The Bangkok Post gave different figures of 165 megawatt-hours and 102 tonnes of carbon dioxide. This was noted to be significantly less than a similar campaign initiated by Bangkok's City Hall last year in May where 530 megawatt-hours were saved and 143 tonnes of carbon dioxide emission was cut.[9] Toronto saved 900 megawatt-hours of electricity. 8.7% was saved if measured against a typical March Saturday night.[10] Ireland, as a whole, had a reduction in electricity use of about 1.5% for the evening.[11] In the three-hour period between 18:30 and 21:30, there was a reduction of 50 megawatts, saving 150 megawatt-hours, or approximately 6 tonnes of carbon dioxide.[12][

Golden Gate Bridge and Marin Headlands public open space in the background, before(insert) and during Earth Hour 2008

In Dubai, where external lighting on several major city landmarks was turned off and street lighting in selected areas was dimmed by 50%, the Electricity and Water Authority reported savings of 100 megawatt-hours of electricity. This represented a 2.4% reduction in demand compared to before the hour began.[13]

The Sky Tower in Auckland, New Zealand, switched off its usual floodlighting during the Earth Hour, and re-lit afterwards.

The best result was from Christchurch, New Zealand. The city reported a drop of 13% in electricity demand. However, Transpower reported that New Zealand's power consumption during Earth Hour was 335 megawatts, higher than the 328 megawatt average of the previous two Saturdays.[14] Melbourne, Australia saved 10.1% of electricity. Sydney, being the city that participated both 2007 and 2008 Earth Hour, cut 8.4% electricity consumption. This is less than last year's 10.2%, however Earth Hour executive director Andy Ridley made the claim that after factoring margin of error, the participation in this city is the same as last year.[15]

The worst result was from Calgary, Canada. The city's power consumption actually went up 3.6% at the hour's peak electricity demand. [16] It should be noted however that in Calgary, where weather plays a large role in power consumption, the city experienced weather 12C colder than the previous Saturday's recorded temperature.[17]

Celebrations around the world

  • In Sydney, Australia, the end of Earth Hour was celebrated with a fireworks show.[18]
  • The Danish royal palaces, Amalienborg Palace and Gråsten Palace, went dark at the Queen's command.[19]
  • Nelly Furtado held a free concert at Nathan Philips Square in Downtown Toronto to celebrate Earth Hour.[20]
  • In Toronto, Ontario, York University’s student-run Environmental Outreach Team ran an afternoon Earth Hour information session, and the York University Observatory offered an extra public viewing session.[21]
  • Stargazing activities were held in Toronto's Ontario Science Centre and Richmond Hill's David Dunlap Observatory.[22][23]
  • Astronomy Ireland set up high-powered telescopes in Dublin's Phoenix Park to allow people to take advantage of the night sky, normally swamped by bright city lights.[12]
  • In Tel Aviv, Israel, a free open air concert by Knesiyat Hasekhel was held at Rabin Square. Power needed for the concert was generated by a group of cyclists pushing pedal generators. The rest of the power was supplied by generators burning used falafel oil for power.[24]
  • In Atlanta, the CEO of WWF US, Carter Roberts and the Mayor of Atlanta, Shirley Franklin flipped a giant switch on live TV symbolically starting the wave of lights going out on the buildings around the city.
  • In San Francisco, a public event hosted by WWF US was attended by Mayor Gavin Newsom, Gold medal figure skater Brian Boitano, Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart and other celebrities. They gathered to watch the lights go out, listening to the music of Jason Damato.

Google

File:Google earth hour.PNG
A web screenshot of Google Canada's 'darkened' homepage on March 29 2008.

Earth Hour has also received free publicity from the Google corporation. From 12:00 a.m. on March 29, 2008 until the end of Earth Hour, the Google homepage in the United States, Colombia, Canada, Denmark, Ireland and the UK was turned to a black background. Their tagline is, "We've turned the lights out. Now it's your turn - Earth Hour." [25]

TV channels

  • Canada's The Weather Network moved its studios outside between 8 and 9 p.m. EDT for Earth Hour, using only an LED light for the hour.[26]
  • The Agenda with Steve Paikin on TVOntario ran its full program running only on candle light. [citation needed]
  • Earth Hour was covered extensively in the United States with segments on Oprah, NBC Nightly News, CBS Evening News, The Today Show, Good Morning America, CNN, CNN International, The Weather Channel and more. Several stations around the United States went live with their coverage including NBC in Atlanta who did an hour long Earth Hour special during the event.

Criticism

Overview of Sydney in Earth Hour 2008

Criticisms centred on the Hour's being mere tokenism,[27] its effectiveness in reducing carbon emissions, whether the significant reduction in electricity consumption reported occurred at all, and questionable coverage of the event by the media conglomerate that sponsored it. It should be noted that the Earth Hour is very similar to the grassroots Earth Day Energy Fast, which from 1991 to 2007 proposed going completely without man-made energy each Earth Day. Earth Day Energy Fast was folded in 2007 since the campaign's founder claimed it was "too late" for such a campaign to have meaningful impact. A Phoenix alternative weekly newspaper also reported in April 2008 [[1]] that shutting off the lights of an office building for an hour can cost more than the energy saved. For instance, the City of Phoenix spent $3,000 to shut the lights off and on in municipal buildings, and Cox Communications required the donation of 35 employee-hours by its electrical contractor.

Tokenism or inspiration

The United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Bali [28] made clear that signatories to the Kyoto Protocol accept that greenhouse gas emissions reductions of from 25 to 40% are necessary by 2020 to reduce the impact of global warming which is causing sea level rise and numerous other problems. In that context Earth Hour is at worst tokenism or at best creating awareness to lead to further steps like switching to green power from sources such as wind power or solar power and away from electricity produced by burning fossil fuels like coal, natural gas and petroleum.

Measurement of reduction in electricity use

According to figures from EnergyAustralia, a local utility, mains electricity consumption for the 2007 event in Sydney was 2% lower during the Hour than would be expected given the time, weather conditions and past four years' consumption patterns. The Herald Sun equated this with "taking 48,613 cars off the road for one hour."[29] Critics, most notably Columnist Andrew Bolt, labelled this as "A cut so tiny is trivial - equal to taking six cars off the road for a year".[30] In context, the six cars equates to there being six fewer cars on the road at any given point of time in the day or night. In response to this criticism, the organisers of Earth Hour counter that "If the greenhouse reduction achieved in the Sydney CBD during Earth Hour was sustained for a year, it would be equivalent to taking 48,616 cars off the road for a year."[31] and they also note that the main goal of Earth Hour is to create awareness around climate change issues and "to express that individual action on a mass scale can help change our planet for the better."[31] and not about the specific energy reductions made during the hour being all that's required.

The 10.2% figure was itself challenged in a detailed analysis by David Solomon, a finance student at the University of Chicago. Solomon used eight years of electricity usage data to conclude that the Earth Hour-inspired drop was 6.33%, and that after other potential factors were taken into account, 2.10%, "statistically indistinguishable from zero."[29] In some areas in the Northern Hemisphere, it will be twilight at 8 p.m., removing some of the advantages of the event.[32]

Fairfax coverage

Media Watch, a television show scrutinising the press, reported on claims that The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age had run misleading and even manipulated photographs of the event.[33] The program shows Before and After photos published by the papers and states that the photos may have been manipulated by overexposure.

The first Earth Hour was held on 31 March 2007 in Sydney, Australia from 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. It is claimed[who?] that the 2007 Earth Hour cut Sydney's mains electricity consumption by 10.2% for that hour[citation needed], with as many as 2.2 million people taking part, while David Soloman claims that actual saving was only 2.1%. [29] Earth Hour 2008 was held internationally on 29 March 2008 from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. local time, marking the first anniversary of the event with many partner cities and individuals around the world participating.

Journalists at Melbourne's Age newspaper claimed that they had been pressured not to write negative stories about Earth Hour because of the parent company's sponsorship arrangement. On April 10, a statement from the journalists claimed that "Reporters were pressured not to write negative stories and story topics followed a schedule drafted by Earth Hour organisers"[34].

See also

References

  1. ^ "Earth Hour - Earth Always :: Sydney Media". City of Sydney. 2007-05-18.
  2. ^ "Cities - Earth Hour 2008". WWF. Retrieved 2008-03-29.
  3. ^ "Supporting Cities". WWF. Retrieved 2008-04-06.
  4. ^ "Someone get the lights". Toronto Star. March 2008. pp. X6-7.
  5. ^ Tyler, Nate. "Lights Out San Francisco". Retrieved 2008-03-29.
  6. ^ Ross, Oakland (March 28, 2008). "Tel Aviv rock concert gets power from pedals". Toronto Star. pp. A1, A10. Retrieved 2008-03-29.
  7. ^ Winsa, Patty (March 27, 2008). "Someone get the lights". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2008-03-29.
  8. ^ "Canadians go dark with world for Earth Hour". CBC. March 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-30.
  9. ^ "Lights out campaign disappointing: Bangkok helps save very little energy". Bangkok Post. March 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-30.
  10. ^ "Toronto hits energy target". Toronto Star. March 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-30.
  11. ^ "Ireland uses less power for 'Earth Hour'". RTÉ News. March 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-30.
  12. ^ a b "Call for continuation of Earth Hour ethos". BreakingNews.ie. March 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-31.
  13. ^ "Dubai slashes energy use for Earth Hour". Arabian Business. March 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-01.
  14. ^ Lights on, power use up for Earth Hour. Kelly Andrew. The Dominion Post. Monday, 31 March 2008.
  15. ^ "Where do we go from here?". Toronto Star. 2008-03-31. pp. A1, A17. Retrieved 2008-03-31.
  16. ^ "Calgary's Earth Hour effort uses more power, not less". Global Calgary. 2008-03-30. Retrieved 2008-03-30.
  17. ^ "Edmontonians cut power consumption by 1.5 per cent during Earth Hour". Edmonton Journal. 2008-04-01. Retrieved 2008-04-07.
  18. ^ "Lights Out for Asia in 'Earth Hour'". Associated Press. March 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-29.
  19. ^ Potter, Mitch (March 2008). "Scandinavia darkens". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2008-03-29.
  20. ^ "Furtado headlines free Earth Hour concert in Toronto". CBC. March 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-29.
  21. ^ "Earth Hour at York's Observatory". York University. March 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-30.
  22. ^ "David Dunlap Observatory". WWF. Retrieved 2008-03-30.
  23. ^ "Celebrate Earth Hour at the Science Centre". Ontario Science Centre. Retrieved 2008-03-30.
  24. ^ "Tel Aviv rocks to Earth Hour". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2008-03-31.
  25. ^ "Earth Hour". Google. Retrieved 2008-03-29.
  26. ^ "The Weather Network - Earth Hour 2008". The Weather Network. Retrieved 2008-03-30.
  27. ^ "Building-in Earth Hour, 24 hours a day'". Retrieved 2008-03-29.
  28. ^ "The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali'". Retrieved 2008-03-29.
  29. ^ a b c Soloman, David (2007-05-09). "Rage, rage against dimming of the light". The Australian. Retrieved 2008-03-29.
  30. ^ Bolt, Andrew (2008-03-28). "Earth Hour coverage should be grounded". Herald Sun. Retrieved 2008-03-31.
  31. ^ a b Information about Earth Hour 2008, history, 2007 - Earth Hour 2008
  32. ^ SkyNews: The Canadian Magazine of Astronomy & Stargazing, March/April 2008, page 37, "Earth Hour too early?"
  33. ^ "Media Watch: Flicking The Switch". ABC. 2007-04-09. Retrieved 2008-03-29.
  34. ^ Age blighted by bias, selling its soul | The Australian
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