by Mark Ollig

Created on: April 21, 2008

The Internet responds to 'Earth Hour'


In a well-organized grass roots campaign, Earth Hour was observed a couple Saturday evenings ago.

I first noted this observance as I arrived on Google and found their home page had gone "dark."

"It's not Halloween, so what's going on?" I thought to myself.

Google had splashed the following message, "we turned the lights out on the Google.com homepage as a gesture to raise awareness of a worldwide energy conservation effort called Earth Hour."

This is still a new event, as the first Earth Hour was just held last year in Sydney, Australia.

On March 31, 2007, approximately 2.2 million people, along with 2,100 Sydney businesses turned off their lights for one hour.

They started Earth Hour by turning off a light switch and enjoying an hour of quiet darkness.

What started in Australia has now turned into a global event.

You still might be wondering exactly what Earth Hour is.

Earth Hour is a global climate change initiative, which calls on individuals and businesses around the world to turn off their lights for one hour.

The aim of the campaign is to communicate that individual action on a large scale can help change our planet for the better.

The event is trying to show the connection between energy usage and climate change.

The main thrust for this action is in response to the threat of global warming, which according to Earth Hour's web site "is one of the greatest threats the world has ever faced."

Saturdy, March 29, 2008, Earth Hour invited people from all over the world to turn off their lights for one hour from 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Over 294,732 individuals and 20,573 businesses signed up and took part in this year's event.

Individuals from around the world turned off the lights in their homes and businesses.

Noteworthy participation took place in more than 25 major cities on six continents, including Chicago, San Francisco, Atlanta, Phoenix, Vancouver and Toronto.

In total, more than 400 cities signed up to support this year's Earth Hour.

The lights went off for an hour at The Sydney Opera House in Australia and in Toronto Canada's famous CN Tower.

In California, even San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge went dark for the hour.

Being part of this event did not mean you needed to turn off every electrical device in your home.

No, you didn't need to turn off important appliances like your refrigerator, but folks were encouraged to join the Earth Hour movement by switching off some lights to make a statement.

The main point of the campaign was

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