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World Cities Go Dark For 'Earth Hour' Climate Campaign (afp.com)

An anonymous reader quotes the AFP: Earth Hour, which started in Australia in 2007, is being observed by millions of supporters in 187 countries, who are turning off their lights at 8.30pm local time in what organisers describe as the world's "largest grassroots movement for climate change"... In Paris, the Eiffel Tower plunged into darkness as President Emmanuel Macron urged people to join in and "show you are willing to join the fight for nature". "The time for denial is long past. We are losing not only our battle against climate change, but also our battle against the collapse of biodiversity," he said on Twitter. Moscow's Red Square also fell dark and the Russian section of the International Space Station dipped its lights, the Ria Novisti news agency said... UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the event "comes at a time of huge pressure on people and planet alike. Resources and ecosystems across the world are under assault. Earth hour is an opportunity to show our resolve to change."
Other landmarks "going dark" include the Empire State Building in New York and the Sydney Opera House, as well as the harbour skylines of Hong Kong and Singapore.

6 of 141 comments (clear)

  1. Looked outside. by EzInKy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    All my cities lights are still on. Doesn't seem to be an "all" thing to me.

    --
    Time is what keeps everything from happening all at once.
  2. Complete idiocy. by Chas · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "Let's not do/buy "X" on this day/hour/etc."

    Yay! Accomplishes NOTHING.

    All they're doing is stress testing the grid's ability to cope with increased demand when everything comes back up.

    --


    Chas - The one, the only.
    THANK GOD!!!
  3. Just like the California drought... by DatbeDank · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This is something that will only be forced on poor people. Excuse me while I turn on every electronic device I can possibly get my hands on!

  4. Anti-intellectual garbage by RightwingNutjob · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The great triumph of the human intellect has been the taming of nature to suit us. Darkness and cold were the first beasts we slayed.

  5. And the winner is.... by blindseer · · Score: 3, Insightful

    NORTH KOREA!

    We proudly award North Korea the winner of the Earth Hour Challenge. They've shown great efforts in caring for the environment for not just sending the entire nation into darkness for an hour (except Dear Leader's palace grounds) but by doing so for the entirety of Earth Day! ... and the year. For much of the last century really.

    Next year we'll take applications for the nation that has shown the lowest carbon footprint growth for the last 50 years. This will be to mark the 50th anniversary of Earth Day coming in 2020. We know who is in the front running, don't you? Let's see who else can revert their nation into the stone age by then. We hear that North Korea is already making plans for their victory by building rockets for a massive fireworks display that no doubt will send shockwaves around the world!

    Come on America! We can't let North Korea show us how things are done! We need to lower our carbon footprint too. USA! USA! USA!

    --
    I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
  6. Instead, celebrate "Human Achievement Hour" by SuperKendall · · Score: 3, Insightful

    As an alternative to virtue signaling tonight, how how celebrating something that has made a difference in the lives of billions - Human Achievement Hour.

    The fact that across the world we have less disease, poverty, and hunger than ever before - not to mention lifespans increasing in even the poorest of countries.

    As George Carlin said, the Earth will be fine no matter what we do. Celebrate the fact that we have collectively helped humans to live better, which will in the end lead to a better environment than any useless gesture ever will - it's only when humans feel content and safe they feel free to turn their gaze away from survival and towards conservation.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley