Saturday night from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m., lights went out in the city of Baton Rouge for Earth Hour.Earth Hour, put on by the World Wildlife Fund, asked people across the world to turn off their lights and unplug their appliances to raise awareness of the need to take action against climate change.According to Earthhour.org, Earth Hour began in Sydney, Australia in 2007, spreading to a “global sustainability movement” in 2008 with 50 million people turning off lights, and this year, was part of a “global vote.””Unlike any election in history, it is not about what country you’re from, but instead, what planet you’re from,” according to the Web site.With the slogan of “your light switch is your vote,” Earth Hour had a goal of 1 billion people switching off their lights. The results of this vote will be presented to world leaders at the Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark in December.At that meeting, official government policies will be made that take action against global warming, replacing the Kyoto Protocol which is currently in place.”This is a statement,” said Carter Roberts, chief executive of the World Wildlife Fund, in an interview with The New York Times, which helped organize the event. “In and of itself it’s not going to save that much energy. The idea is to create political energy.”The idea of Earth Hour creating “political energy” is evident in many ways, including activity on Facebook. There are more than 500 groups devoted to spreading the word about Earth Hour and its movement to help change political policies about climate change.The largest group, “Earth Hour”, devoted to the topic boasts more than 700,000 members, and there are groups for particular geographical regions as well, like “Earth Hour Malaysia” with more than 66,000 members and “Earth Hour Indonesia” with almost 60,000 members.It’s estimated more than 200 U.S. cities participated in the event this year, including Baton Rouge.The Environmental Conservation Organization at the University was promoting Earth Hour this year and incorporated a bike ride at the time of Earth Hour.Katie Peterson, ECO vice president and marine biology and coastal environment sciences junior, said an ECO member suggested the club do something for Earth Hour.”We thought, what a better way to spend an hour of energy independence than going for a bike ride,” Peterson said. “It is a great way to have some fun without furthering our carbon footprint.”The group met Saturday night at 8 p.m. by the Memorial Tower. People were not allowed to participate unless they promised they had turned off their lights and unplugged their appliances.Peterson said she felt Earth Hour was important because it shows people don’t need to be dependent on energy at all times.”LSU students are certainly doing their part to preserve the environment,” Peterson said. Sarah Beth Maxwell, geology junior, said she was participating in Earth Hour by turning off all of her lights and unplugging her appliances. She heard about the bike ride and thought it was a great idea to join together with a group that “appreciates the lack of electricity and has fun doing it” but was unable to participate in the ride.Maxwell said she felt Earth Hour was important because it helped to create awareness.”It allows the people of Louisiana and citizens all over the world to have a voice in the vote to end global warming. This mass movement will hopefully show the government that the people are taking a stand for change,” Maxwell said.But not everyone in the Capital City participated in Earth Hour.Danielle Williams, mass communication senior, said she would have participated in the event if she remembered but was not going to plan her schedule around it.Williams said she didn’t think Earth Hour would make a noticeable difference because it isn’t well-known enough yet. “I haven’t really heard much about Earth Hour, and I don’t think many people are actually going to follow through with participating. I don’t think most LSU students will take the time to turn off the lights, unplug their appliances and live without electricity for an hour,” Williams said.—Contact Catie Vogels at [email protected]
Earth Hour brings awareness to energy conservation
March 28, 2009