Earth Hours Essay

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Earth Hour 2014: Reflex paper 1) What is the Earth Hour and what are the celebrating activities around the world? Millions of people around the world switch off their lights for Earth Hour at 8.30pm in their local times on the last Saturday of March each year. Earth Hour is a worldwide movement uniting people to protect the planet, and is organized by WWF. This event is engaging a massive mainstream community on a broad range of environmental issues; Earth Hour was famously started as a lights-off event in Sydney, Australia in 2007. Since then it has grown to engage more than 7000 cities and towns worldwide, and the one-hour event continues to remain the key driver of the now larger movement. It is an event that aims to create awareness of people taking responsibility towards a sustainable future by turning the lights off. Earth Hour is not to be confused with Earth Day. Iconic buildings and landmarks from Europe to Asia to the Americas have stood in darkness during previous Earth Hours. Some people enjoy Earth Hour with a candle-lit dinner or a candle-lit bath, while others host large events or parties, either in darkness or with candles, to celebrate Earth Hour. 2) Are there any evidences of the reduced energy consumption from this movement? According to WWF Thailand, Bangkok decreased electricity usage by 73.34 megawatts, which, over one hour, is equivalent to 41.6 tons of carbon dioxide. Philippine Electricity Market Corp. noted that power consumption dropped by about 78.63 megawatts in Metro Manila, and up to 102.2 megawatts on Luzon. The maximum demand drop of around 39 MW was experienced at 8:14 p.m. in Metro Manila and of around 116 MW at 8:34 p.m. in the Luzon grid. At one point, Toronto, Ontario saw an 8.7% reduction in consumption as compared to a typical March Saturday night. Sydney, being the city that participated in both the 2007 and 2008

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