Natural Environment Blog

In six days, the world will have a global election. There are two candidates:

1. Candidate 1: Earth
2. Candidate 2: Global Warming

Earth Hour is when you need to cast your vote. Earth Hour 2009 is being held on Saturday, March 28 at 8:30pm (your own local time).

How Do I Cast My Vote?

Voting is easy.

• To vote for Earth, turn your lights off for an hour between 8:30pm and 9:30pm
• To vote for global warming, keep your lights on

Show Your Support

If you intend to vote for Earth on Saturday, you can show your support by downloading a banner, poster, badge, and more.

Here’s a sample of some of the badges you can display on your own blog or website to show your support for Earth.

For more information on how to support Earth on Saturday, see the VoteEarth2009 website.

Last year I mentioned that this year’s Earth Hour will be the biggest to date, but it’s also turning out to be even bigger than the organizers expected. 

No less than 1,539 cities and towns in 80 countries will participate in this year’s Earth Hour 2009. 

This number, which will almost certainly grow over the next eleven days, exceeds the organizers’ target of 1,000 cities. 

With more and more cities and towns signing up every day, the event organizers say that the success of Earth Hour 2009 is limited only by the will of the global community to want a say in the future of their planet.

“Earth Hour is an opportunity for the global community to speak in one voice on the issue of climate change, while at the same time coming together in celebration of the one thing every single person on the planet has in common – the planet” said Earth Hour Executive Director, Mr Andy Ridley.

“Whether it’s joining your community in a town square to watch the city lights go dark or hosting a lights out party in your own home, I encourage everybody across the world to be a part of this historic occasion. Turn off your lights, celebrate the planet, enjoy the moment and cast your vote for Earth,” he added.

With increased involvement from populous countries such as China, it is hoped that Earth Hour 2009 will be observed by over 100 million people around the world.

Earth Hour 2009 will be at least 3 times bigger than 2008 with more than 76 cities officially participating. These before/after photos were taken during Earth Hour 2007 in Sydney. Photo: madradish.

Earth Hour 2009 stands to be the biggest Earth Hour to date. Last year, 26 cities officially participated in Earth Hour. The current count for 2009 is almost 3 times that figure - and we’re still more than 3 months away from the event.

Furthermore, organizers anticipate that over 1 billion people will take part in 2009 - up from 50 million in 2008. This is largely due to China’s involvement in 2009, where populous cities such as Beijing and Shanghai will participate

The official number of cities to participate in Earth Hour 2009 currently stands at 76 cities.

Official Cities To Particpate In Earth Hour 2009

Here are the cities currently listed for participation in Earth Hour 2009. Note that this figure is sure to increase over the coming months as more cities are announced.

Australia

• Adelaide
• Brisbane 
• Canberra 
• Darwin 
• Hobart 
• Melbourne 
• Perth
• Sydney

Bolivia

• Santa Cruz de la Sierra 

Bulgaria

• Sofia

Canada

• Toronto 

China

• Beijing
• Hong Kong
• Shanghai

Costa Rica

• San Jose

Denmark

• Aalborg
• Copenhagen
• Odense

Federated States of Micronesia

• Ponphei

Fiji

• Suva

Finland

• Espoo
• Helsinki

Guatemala

• Guatemala City

Italy

• Bologna
• Florence
• Milan
• Naples
• Palermo
• Rome
• Turin
• Venice

Jordan

• Amman

Mexico

• Mexico City

New Zealand

• Auckland
• Christchurch
• Hamilton

Norway

• Oslo
• Tromso
• Trondheim

Phillipines

• Manila

Poland

• Gdansk
• Lodz
• Poznan
• Torun
• Warsaw

Portugal

• Lisbon

Russia

• Moscow
• Petropalovsk-Kamchatsky

Singapore

• Singapore City

South Africa

• Cape Town

Sweden

• Ekero
• Gothenberg
• Kalmar
• Kiruna
• Lilla Edet
• Malmö
• Mullsjo
• Nassjo
• Norrkoping
• Orebro
• Sodertalje
• Ulricehamn
• Vaxjo
• Ystad

Turkey

• Istanbul

United Arab Emirates

• Abu Dhabi
• Dubai
• Fujairah
• Sharjah

United Kingdom

• London

United States

• Chicago
• Las Vegas
• Los Angeles
• San Francisco
• Miami 
• Nashville

Note that China has already indicated that more chinese cities will be announced in the future.

About Earth Hour 2009

Earth Hour is a global WWF climate change initiative. Individuals, businesses, governments and communities are invited to turn out their lights for one hour on Saturday March 28, 2009 at 8:30 PM to show their support for action on climate change.

On Monday, WWF officially announced that China will participate in Earth Hour in 2009.

Back in April,  WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) indicated that China would have more involvement in Earth Hour next year, but the extent of its involvement was largely unknown.

Hong Kong is already on the list of cities to take part in Earth Hour 2009. On Monday it was announced that Beijing and Shanghai would also participate.

WWF has also indicated that more Chinese cities will be announced in the future. 

2009 To Be Bigger Than 2008

In 2008, 26 cities were officially part of Earth Hour (although more than 370 cities, towns and councils took part unofficially). 

For 2009, the official count currently stands at 76 cities across 62 countries. It is anticipated that more than 1,000 cities, towns and councils will participate unofficially in 2009.

About Earth Hour

Earth Hour is a global WWF climate change initiative. Individuals, businesses, governments and communities are invited to turn out their lights for one hour on Saturday March 28, 2009 at 8:30 PM to show their support for action on climate change.

The event began in Sydney in 2007, when 2 million people switched off their lights. In 2008, more than 50 million people around the globe participated. In 2009, it is anticipated that more than 1 billion people in 1,000 cities will participate in Earth Hour.

Chief of WWF-Australia, Greg Bourne, has indicated that next year’s Earth Hour will have a much bigger involvement by China. He said:

We’re pretty certain, that when we do it next year, China will become very much more involved

This sounds promising, given China is the world’s most populated country.

Bourne indicates that “tens of millions” of people participated in this year’s Earth Hour. He estimates that it could be as many as 100 million.

That figure will surely increase substantially with China’s increased involvement. According to July 2007 estimates, China’s population is 1,321,851,888!

Bourne also said that this year’s Earth Hour had involvement from every country.

Source: AFP

Earth Hour 2008 was a huge success with cities around the world reducing their energy consumption for an hour.

In Christchurch, New Zealand, power usage dropped by 12.8 per cent during Earth Hour. That’s more than double what the organizers were hoping for. Christchurch was New Zealand’s official host city for this year’s Earth Hour.

Here’s a sample of cities that participated, along with their reported power savings:

• Christchurch saved 12.8 per cent (although some reports have it as high as 13.1 per cent)
• Canberra saved 11.4 per cent
• Toronto saved 9 per cent
• Ontario saved 5 per cent
• Ottawa saved 4 per cent
• Sydney saved 300 megawatts
• Sydney (central) saved 8.4 per cent. Last year, Sydney saved 10.2 per cent during the world’s first Earth Hour.
• London saved 2 per cent
• Bangkok saved 73.3 megawatts of electricity

These results are a stark contrast to cities like Wellington and Regina - cities that didn’t participate. Wellington and Regina’s power usage actually increased during Earth Hour! It’s not known exactly why this occurred but it’s suspected that the cold and wet weather had something to do with it. Many people had their heater on in Wellington, and none of the cities landmark buildings had their lights turned off.

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.

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.