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Landmarks, offices to go dark today for 'Earth Hour'

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Press Trust Of India New Delhi

Come tomorrow, from 8.30 pm to 9.30 pm important landmarks and offices of leading companies in the country, including in metros like Delhi and Mumbai, will go dark to mark “Earth Hour”, to raise awareness for global action on climate change.

As part of the two-year old green campaign launched by the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF), over 500 cities in 75 countries will turn dark in unison as a symbolic gesture.

“We have launched a multi-communication campaign through schools and colleges to draw in as many youth as possible into this initiative,” Ravi Singh, Secretary General of WWF-India told reporters here. He said millions of individuals across 1,100 cities in 80 countries have pledged to switch off their lights for one hour starting 8.30 pm (local time), to show that they care about the planet.

 

Film star Aamir Khan has endorsed the initiative and so has Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.

“Earth Hour” is an annual international event created by WWF, that asks households and businesses across the world to turn off their non-essential lights and electrical appliances for one hour at the appointed time, to raise awareness towards the need to take action on climate change.

To emphasise the significance, many celebrities and leaders across the world have also lent the event their support.

Events have been planned at noted landmarks like the Central Park and Dilli Haat in Delhi and Gateway of India in Mumbai at the crucial hour, as a gesture of mass mobilisation, Aarti Khosla, Earth Hour, Project Manager of WWF said.

Some of the most famous landmarks across the world, like Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janrieo, Sydney Opera House, the Table Mountain in Cape Town, Merlion in Singapore and the world’s tallest constructed building in Taipei, 101, will join millions of people to make the campaign a success.

The campaign has been planned to pressure policy makers to initiate urgent steps to cut greenhouse gas emissions and save the planet from the perils of global warming.

It assumes significance this year, as world leaders are due to meet at the UN Climate Change Conference at Copenhagen in December to sign a new deal to supersede the Kyoto Protocol.

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First Published: Mar 28 2009 | 12:51 AM IST

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