Hundreds of monuments, as well as 2,400 cities in 82 countries, will go dark

[G_j]

Landmarks going dark
Hundreds of monuments, as well as 2,400 cities in 82 countries, will go dark for an hour Saturday.

http://green.yahoo.com/blog/greenpicks/236/flick-your-switch-off-for-earth-hour.html

Do you want to show you care about energy conservation? Simply switch off your lights on March 28 from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m., local time.

This is Earth Hour, and Saturday is the third annual worldwide event. Earth Hour is both a symbolic act and the start of a practical habit.

Millions of homes and businesses and hundreds of major landmarks will go dark for one hour to show that energy conservation is important and to send this message to political leaders attending the United Nations Climate Change Conference in December 2009


<snip>
Some famous buildings will be going dark on Saturday including: The Empire State Building in New York City, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the St. Louis Gateway Arch, the Sydney Opera House, the Sears Tower in Chicago, Seattle's Space Needle, the Great Pyramids and Sphinx in Egypt, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, and Broadway theater marquees in New York City.

Even the flashy Las Vegas Strip will turn dark for an hour. Of course, the slot machines inside casinos will stay on, but almost all of the buildings and marquees on the Strip itself will be dark during Earth Hour.

For the very first time, the famous "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign will go off. Spokespeople say that Vegas lights have dimmed for a minute when a local celebrity dies, but the Strip and the sign have never gone dark for a full hour.

Other businesses are flicking the switch too. The golden arches at McDonald's in New Zealand and Canada will go dark, saving more than 10,000 kilowatt-hours for our neighbor to the north. The Canadian chain says it has also saved 3.1 million kilowatt-hours of energy through improved lighting, heating, and ventilation.

Both Nashville and Los Angeles are U.S. sponsor cities, so the Nashville Predators and the L.A. Kings hockey teams agreed to reschedule their game in Nashville to 5 p.m. The game should end around 7:30 p.m. with plenty of time for the arena to turn off the lights.

..more..

[msongs]

1. big deal, ONE hour, then back to business as usual. superficial at best. nt

[G_j]

2. sure, but it should be interesting and maybe a bit fun.. nt

[HillbillyBob]

4. Well we have to start somewhere, I live out in the boonies

and almost every house out this way has a streetlight type light.
Figure they are 200 or 400 watt sodium and halide, that is a lot of power.
The local power company charges 20$ per month for them.
We had the one here turned out when we moved in , when our neighbors moved in they had the damn thing turned back on. We liked it out so that we could watch the stars and the Milky Way in her dance about the earth. Our other objection is that our power co uses almost all coal fired power.
We have been going to lower power use bulbs, we are up to 15 LED lightbulbs, so far, and the rest of them are CFLs, as they die off we replace them.
We also have tropical plants we bring in for the winter and also starting seeds for the summer garden, I used all Fluorescent grow lights, but am swapping them to LEDs as I can. We like fresh herbs to cook with so keeping them inside keeps them handy and weed, pest, disease free, and clean. The LED grow lights only use 13 watts compared to 100 fluro or 275 or 400 for higher powered incandescent.
I know some folks whine about nanny state in their objection to going green.
Think of it this way, it is good conservative and conservation principle to save the bucks that you would normally pay the power company. For myself I want to tell the power company eventually "Cut the wires".
edited for typo

[mitchum]

6. I am the world's biggest cynic, but even I think this can be a significant gesture...

toward raising awareness

[BuyingThyme]

3. I think it's time we stop.....

....for an hour, and think about the State of the Planet.

Green 960 Online and Radio is going to go...quiet, for an hour, tomorrow night at 8:30pm. We'll still be on the air, but we'll be presenting some audio symbolism..a one hour tribute to our planet...quiet........

And we want you to turn off your lights, please.

This will be our way to show support for Earth Hour:

This is a worldwide effort to show the policy makers and the media how much power, the People....have.

If you're home tomorrow night, let's all go quiet. An hour of candlelight, or a flashlight, or a battery-powered lantern...will send a strong message.

I'm thinking it's a really noble way to stir up the romance...."Honey, you get the strawberries, I'll kill the lights..."

I won't go any farther on my description.

...

http://green960.com/pages/blog.html?feed=313154&article=5221589

[G_j]

5. =

[rcrush]

7. I bet this is the time the aliens choose to invade.

[G_j]

8. **