Lights go out around the world for Earth Hour 2017

This weekend, people around the world will be turning off their lights and powering down as part of the annual Earth Hour initiative. That means from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, we’re being asked to unplug all electronics including lights, TVs and computers.

Lights at landmarks around the world, including some here at home, will go dark for the hour.

Mike Wigzell is Interim Manager of Project Energy Management with the City of Kitchener and says they’ll be shutting off the lights at City Hall and the Victoria Park Clock Tower in honour of Earth Hour.

“The City of Kitchener has a very proud history in terms of our commitment of being responsible stewards of energy and environmental management. We’ve recently developed our corporate climate action plan, which is a natural next step in formalizing our approach to energy and waste management, and setting transparent goals that we can hold ourselves accountable to.”

Wigzell adds that the City of Kitchener will continue environmental efforts into April for Earth Day, and well beyond that.

“We’re not alone in our desire to do our part for Earth Hour, and the environment by extension. Our efforts certainly won’t stop with Earth Hour, and we have every intention of meeting our goal of an 8 per cent reduction in our greenhouse gas emissions over the next 10 years.”

The Cities of Waterloo, Cambridge and Guelph will also be participating in the event, and are asking all of us to join in on the initiative to show our region’s commitment to fighting climate change and global warming.

Earth Hour is a global event and participants range from over 170 countries in two dozen time zones.

Earth Hour started in Sydney, Australia back in 2007 by the World Wildlife Fund to raise awareness about the earth’s environment.