Environmentalists hail Earth Hour as a big success

Vanessa Gera, Associated Press Yahoo News 29 Mar 09;

BONN, Germany – For environmental activists, the message was clear: Earth Hour was a huge success.

Now they say nations have a mandate to tackle climate change.

"The world said yes to climate action, now governments must follow," the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) said Sunday, a day after hundreds of millions of people worldwide followed its call to turn off lights for a full hour.

From an Antarctic research base and the Great Pyramids of Egypt, from the Colosseum in Rome to the Empire State building in New York, illuminated patches of the globe went dark Saturday night to highlight the threat of climate change. Time zone by time zone, nearly 4,000 cities and towns in 88 countries dimmed nonessential lights from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

WWF called the event, which began in Australia in 2007 and grew last year to 400 cities worldwide, "the world's first-ever global vote about the future of our planet."

The United Nations' top climate official, Yvo de Boer, called the event a clear sign that the world wants negotiators seeking a climate change agreement to set an ambitious course to fight global warming.

Talks in Bonn this week are the latest round in an effort to craft a deal to control emissions of the heat-trapping gases responsible for global warming. They are due to culminate in Copenhagen this December.

"Earth Hour was probably the largest public demonstration on climate change ever," de Boer told delegates from 175 nations. "Its aim was to tell every government representative to seal a deal in Copenhagen. The world's concerned citizens have given the negotiations an additional and very clear mandate."

Earth Hour officially began when the Chatham Islands, 500 miles (800 kilometers) east of New Zealand, switched off its diesel generators. It moved on through Asia, Europe and then crossed the Atlantic to North and South America.

"Earth Hour has always been a positive campaign," said Earth Hour executive director Andy Ridley. "It's always around street parties, not street protests, it's the idea of hope, not despair. And I think that's something that's been incredibly important this year because there is so much despair around."

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Associated Press writers around the world contributed to this report.

Act on Earth Hour call, UN climate chief tells delegates
WWF 29 Mar 09;

Bonn, Germany – UN climate chief Yvo de Boer today urged delegates to crucial negotiations starting today to take heed of yesterday’s Earth Hour call from hundreds of millions of people wanting decisive global action on climate change this year.

The head of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) had earlier received a symbolic blue Earth Hour ballot box of “votes for earth” from a group of German scouts.

Taking the ballot box into the opening session of the climate talks, de Boer told delegates from nearly 190 nations meeting to negotiate towards a new global climate agreement due to be decided in Copenhagen in December that they should heed the voices of millions.

"Around the world, millions of people in thousands of cities switched their lights off last
night in order to send a clear message that we must act on climate change," he said.

"Earth hour was probably the largest public demonstration on climate change ever. Its aim was to tell every government representative to seal the deal in Copenhagen.”

If concluded, a Copenhagen agreement would provide the basis for global action on climate change causing emissions past the 2012 expiry of the current – and clearly inadequate – Kyoto Protocol.

From the Sydney’s Harbour Bridge soon after WWF’s Earth Hour commenced to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge shortly before it concluded, lights went out around the globe as hundreds of millions of people from around 4000 towns and cities in 88 countries voted for earth with their light switches.

“The world’s concerned citizens have given the negotiations an additional clear mandate,” de Boer said.

Throughout the session the blue box remained standing on the main negotiation table, visible to all delegates, observers and journalists from around the world.

“The suggestion that government delegates should take heed of their population’s voice and concerns on climate change is very heartening ,” said WWF’s global climate initiative leader Kim Carstensen.