Natural Environment Blog

WWF-Australia announced that more than 370 cities, councils, and towns around the world agreed to participate in Earth Hour.

Also, the list of official cities has now increased to 26. (Note that I previously posted a list of 24 cities)

Here’s the 26 official cities participating in Earth Hour:

• Aalborg, Denmark
• Aarhus, Denmark
• Adelaide, Australia
• Atlanta, United States
• Bangkok, Thailand
• Brisbane, Australia
• Canberra, Australia
• Chicago, United States
• Christchurch, New Zealand
• Copenhagen, Denmark
• Darwin, Australia
• Dublin, Ireland
• Manila, Philippines
• Melbourne, Australia
• Montreal , Canada
• Odense, Denmark
• Ottawa, Canada
• Perth, Australia
• Phoenix , United States
• San Francisco, United States
• Suva, Fiji
• Sydney, Australia
• Tasmania, Australia
• Tel Aviv, Israel
• Toronto, Canada
• Vancouver, Canada

Here’s a (partial) list of some other cities participating in Earth Hour 2008:

• Aegina, Greece
• Birmingham, United Kingdom
• Buenos Aires, Argentina
• Burlington, Canada
• Calgary, Canada
• Chandigarh, India
• Chisinau, Moldova
• Curitiba, Brazil
• Denver, United States
• Edmonton, Canada
• Galway, Ireland
• Geneva, Switzerland
• Gold Coast, Australia
• Halifax, Canada
• Honolulu, United States
• Jakarta, Indonesia
• Kuwait City, Kuwait
• Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• Lautoka City, Fiji
• London, United Kingdom
• Mexico City, Mexico
• Miami, United States
• Minneapolis, United States
• Montevideo, Uruguay
• Newcastle, Australia
• Northampton, United Kingdom
• Pasay City, Philippines
• Pecs, Hungary
• Santa Cruz, Bolivia
• Stratford, Canada
• Warsaw, Poland
• Wellington, New Zealand

I think it would be extremely difficult to get an exact figure on the number of cities/local areas participating in Earth Hour. Villages, towns, cities everywhere seem to be participating to some extent. For example, where I live (Cairns, Australia), the council promoted Earth Day and organized Earth Day events such as a free movie screening along the Cairns Esplanade.

As I write this, Earth Hour is well underway with many cities around having already participated in Earth Hour.

Many cities organized Earth Hour events such as live concerts, free movie screenings, candlelit dinners etc Famous landmarks such as the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge were reduced to silhouettes as most of their lights were switched off.

What’s more, major companies around the world made sure they played their part in Earth Hour. For example, IT companies such as Intel, InfoSys, Wipro, and Microsoft, switched off non-critical servers and workstations for the hour. Also, Google changed the color of it’s homepage to black, and added the following words under it’s search box: “We’ve turned the lights out. Now it’s your turn”.

You can read the updates from the official Earth Hour cities on the Official Earth Hour Blog.

Since 2003, the UK has held a Hemp Expo, which aims to raise public awareness of the value of hemp as a national crop.

Each year, the Hemp Expo is held in held in various locations around the UK. This year it’s returning to London - the place of the first Hemp Expo back in 2003.

Here’s what the official website has to say about the Hemp Expo:

Featuring the latest and greatest in new inventions, clothing, bags, food, books, alternative therapies, healing, music, famous names and famous faces, seminars, new seed strains, vaporisers and much, much more.

Exhibitors, inventors, wholesalers and retailers will be coming from all over the world to show the best in hemp and alternative technologies.

This year’s Hemp Expo will be held on 14th, 15th and 16th of November 2008, at the Truman Brewery, Brick Lane, London E1

I’ve just read that candles are a growing cause of fire. Each year, more and more deaths are being attributed to fire caused by candles. If this is the case, then Earth Hour will surely be a high risk time for house fires caused by candles.

Because of this, I decided to compile a list of candle safety tips. I collected these from a range of different authority websites on fire safety. If you plan to use candles during Earth Hour (or any other time for that matter!), try to follow these tips:

• Place all candles on a heat resistant surface. Night lights and tea lights get particularly hot underneath.
• Place all candles in a sturdy holder that stands upright and won’t fall over.
• Never place candles near curtains (or anything else that could catch fire).
• Keep candles away from draughts. A small draught could blow the flame onto something flammable.
• Keep your clothes and hair away from candles. For example, never reach over a candle to pick something up.
• Keep children and pets away from all candles.
• Keep candles at least 10 cm apart from each other.
• Place scented candles in a glass or metal holder. This is because scented candles turn to liquid in order to release their fragrance.
• Never move a candle while it’s burning.
• Always keep an eye on your candles.
• Always extinguish candles before leaving the room unattended.
• Always use a candle snuffer or spoon to extinguish your candles. This is safer than blowing them out (which can result in sparks).
• Double check that all candles are out.

With Earth Hour approaching, many people have indicated that they will be burning candles throughout the hour. Unfortunately, this could result in replacing one environmental problem with another.

Burning candles isn’t exactly the healthiest or most environmentally friendly thing to do - especially if made from paraffin wax. There are some eco-friendly alternatives though, so all is not lost!

Candles that are Bad for the Environment

Most cheap candles (like the ones you can buy at the supermarkets) are made from paraffin wax. Paraffin wax is a byproduct of oil refining and releases a number of carcinogens when burned. These include Acetaldehyde, Acrolein, Benzene, Formaldehyde, Polychlorodibenzo-p-dioxins, Polyaromatic Hydrocarbons and Toulene.

Some cheap candles may even contain lead in their wicks. This in turn, releases toxic fumes when burned. Lead is particularly harmful to our bodies and other animals. Some countries such as US and Australia have recently banned lead wicks from candles.

Environmentally Friendly Candles

Burning any substance is always going to have its environmental downside. But, there are candles that are better for the environment than the cheap paraffin candles.

If you want to burn candles during Earth Hour (or any other time), use soy candles or 100% beeswax candles.

• 100% beeswax candles smoke free, non-toxic and non-allergenic. They are made of natural products (instead of petroleum based materials). Some say 100% beeswax candles are carbon neutral because the carbon dioxide they emit has already been taken from the atmosphere to produce the wax.
• Soy candles are made from soy wax - a vegetable wax made from the oil of soybeans. Again, by using soy candles, you’re avoiding petroleum based products. Also, soy candles are said to burn 40% cooler than paraffin based candles. This means your candle will burn longer - up to 8 hours per ounce of wax.

Many of the world’s most famous landmarks will be participating in Earth Hour this weekend. Here’s a list of the famous landmarks that are officially participating in Earth Hour 2008:

Australia

• Sydney:
  • Harbour Bridge
  • Opera House
  • Centrepoint Tower
  • Big Coke sign on William St (Kings Cross)
  • NSW Parliament
  • Town Hall
  • Kirribilli House
  • Luna Park
  • Buildings facing Circular Quay
  • Blues Point Tower
• Melbourne
  • The Arts Centre
  • Rialto Towers
  • Luna Park (St Kilda)
  • Melbourne Aquarium
  • The Jam Factory
  • Federation Square
  • Melbourne Town Hall
  • Melbourne Zoo
• Adelaide
  • Adelaide Town Hall
  • Adelaide Central Markets
  • Victoria Square Fountain
  • The Advertiser building
  • Hilton Adelaide.
• Brisbane
  • Casino
  • Story Bridge
  • City Hall
  • Victoria Bridge
  • William Jolly Bridge
  • Brisbane Square
  • A number of State Government parliamentary buildings
• Perth
  • The WACA (WA Cricket Ground)

United States

• Atlanta
  • Coca Cola Headquarters
  • Georgia Aquarium (world’s largest aquarium)
• Chicago
  • Sears Tower
  • John Hancock Building
  • Soldier Field (home of Chicago Bears football)
  • Boeing Headquarters Building
  • Merchandise Mart
  • Drake Hotel
  • Chicago City Hall
  • C N A Building
  • Blue Cross/Blue Shield Building
  • Chicago Theater Marquees in downtown
  • Hard Rock Cafe
  • Marquee at Wrigley Field (home of the Chicago Cubs).
• San Francisco
  • San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge
  • San Francisco Bay Bridge
  • San Francisco Town Hall
  • Head offices of USA IT partner Hewlett-Packard Company (Palo Alto, CA).
• Phoenix
  • City government buildings

Canada

• Toronto
  • All City of Toronto Buildings
  • CN Tower
  • Ontario Science centre
  • Ontario Place
  • Honest Ed’s
  • Toronto Eaton Centre

Ireland

• Dublin
  • Office of Public Works
  • Non-essential lights of Government buildings
  • Customs House
  • Dublin City buildings

Israel

• Tel Aviv
  • Azrieali Tower
  • City Hall building and all hotels

In a recent post, I listed 24 cities as being official participants of this year’s Earth Hour. As it’s turning out, Earth Hour is going to be much, much bigger than that!

Around the globe, cities that aren’t on the official list are announcing that they will be participating in Earth Hour. Here are some (in no particular order):

• Minneapolis
• Welland
• Scott Base (in the Antarctic!)
• Pecs
• Brampton
• Dorval

And you may have noticed that the Welland Tribune states that more than 100 Canadian cities will participate in Earth Hour this year.

Earth Hour is being held between 8pm and 9pm on Saturday, March 29.

Update 29 March 2008: After I posted this list, the final list came to 26.

There are now 24 cities around the world officially participating in Earth Hour next weekend (29 March at 8pm).

The cities participating in Earth Hour are:

Australia

• Sydney
• Perth
• Melbourne
• Canberra
• Brisbane
• Adelaide

United States

• Atlanta
• Chicago
• San Francisco
• Phoenix

Thailand

• Bangkok

Canada

• Montreal
• Ottawa
• Toronto
• Vancouver

Ireland

• Dublin

Denmark

• Aarhus
• Aalborg
• Copenhagen
• Odense

Philippines

• Manila

Fiji

• Suva

Israel

• Tel Aviv

New Zealand

• Christchurch

Hey, if your city isn’t on the official list it doesn’t mean you can’t participate! According to the Earth Hour website:

While there are 24 official cities taking part in Earth Hour, there are many more cities expected to turn off the lights all over the world, and WWF-Australia estimates that more than 30 million people will take part. To date, 58,615 people have signed up to Earth Hour but that number is set to soar.

In any case, regardless of whether your city is participating, you can still participate. All you need to do is switch your lights off between 8pm and 9pm on Saturday, March 29. Yes, it’s that easy!

The team members at Scott Base in the Antarctic will be participating in Earth Hour next weekend.

They will switch off as many lights as they can, although they will need to keep some safety lighting on. They will be switching off all computers, radios, and TVs. They won’t be able to switch off their heating, as temperatures are around minus 30 degrees these days in Scott Base.

Scott Base winter mechanic Grant Hill says:

We are keen in whatever way to do whatever we can as far as energy conservation goes. The base runs very energy efficiently anyway, but we thought it would be a good thing to get on board with.

Source: Stuff.co.nz

So you’re going to participate in Earth Hour? Excellent! So, what are you going to do during Earth Hour?

What I did during last year’s Earth Hour

During the very first Earth Hour last year, I turned off all lights and the TV. I also decided to take the time to turn unnecessary appliances off. I actually spent most of Earth Hour looking around at my neighbors apartments to see how many were participating!

My apartment had a view straight into the city, so I could see that the city was much darker than usual. My apartment also had a (very close) view to Telstra Stadium - the stadium from the 2000 Olympic Games. Unfortunately, there was a game on that night (I guess the organizers decided against staging the game in complete darkness!).

What the Canadians are going to do

According to a survey by Angus Reid Strategies, almost 70% of Canadians plan to take part in Earth Hour. Here’s what survey participants have said they will do during Earth Hour:

• 25% will take the time to check out the stars
• 21% will sit in the dark
• 12% will take the opportunity to have quality time with their partner
• 7% will be sleeping (hopefully with the lights off)
• 5% will be at work
• 4% will attend an Earth Hour event
• 3% will party
• 23% will do, um… “other”

The survey was an online poll, covering all of Canada, and was answered by 1,023 adults. The poll is considered accurate within plus or minus 3 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

So, what will you be doing during this year’s Earth Hour?