Published: 27 March 2008
Cardiff committed to WWF’s Earth Hour
WWF Cymru is delighted to announce Cardiff as being one of the first UK cities to join the global WWF Earth Hour initiative, which will see cities and towns across the globe turning off all non essential lights for one hour on March 29th at 8pm.
Cardiff County Council and the Welsh Assembly Government and have committed to turning off all non essential lighting in support of the initiative.
Morgan Parry, Head of WWF Cymru said:
“We are delighted to see Cardiff Council and WAG set an example to the rest of Wales by helping the capital become one of the first British cities to get involved in turning off all non-essential lighting for Earth Hour.
Earth Hour will send a strong, symbolic signal that people all around the world are deeply concerned about climate change and expect their political leaders and businesses to take action before it’s too late.
Climate change is a global challenge that requires global solutions and Earth Hour is making it clear to those in power that people across the world are ready to get involved.
Earth Hour was conceived by WWF to deliver a powerful message about the need for urgent action on global warming. Here in the UK this ties in with and emphasises the need for a strong Climate Change Bill to go before the UK parliament.”
Earth Hour uses the simple action of turning off lights for one hour and was pioneered last year by WWF-Australia in Sydney when 2.2 million people and 2,100 Sydney businesses turned off their lights.
As a result Sydney's energy consumption fell by 10.2% for one hour, which is the equivalent effect of taking 48,000 cars off the road for a year.
Cardiff will be joining some of the world’s major capital cities, including Copenhagen, Toronto, Chicago, Melbourne, Brisbane, Tel Aviv, Bangkok and San Francisco, in calling on people to turn off non essential lights for an hour.
WWF’s goal is to get as many people as possible to sign up, but the biggest difference we can make to climate change in the UK is to ensure that we continue to lead the way in tackling the issue through robust legislation.
You can show your support for this by pushing for a strong Climate Change Bill.
The Climate Change Bill is one of the most important pieces of legislation ever to go before the UK Parliament.
The UK government was the first in the world to table binding legislation committing to a 60% cut in carbon emissions by 2050.
However, scientific evidence shows that we will need a reduction in the UK's CO2 of at least 80% by 2050 if we are to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.
To make sure both these asks are included in the Climate Change Bill, go to http://wwf.org.uk/getonboard and show your support.
If you are a community or business in the UK and are planning a special Earth Hour event, please do let WWF know by emailing earthhour@wwfuk.org so they can pass on the good news.
Further information
Related article: Is WAG being ambitious enough? asks WWF
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