On Saturday, March 29, 2008, DePaul University and the city of Chicago will participate in the World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) Earth Hour. We will join 20 cities from around the world who will turn off their lights from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. to send a message about climate change, global warming and the power of collective action.
What is Earth Hour?
The event began last year in Sydney, Australia. On March 31, 2007, 2.2 million people and 2,100 Sydney businesses turned off their lights for one hour – Earth Hour. This massive collective effort reduced Sydney's energy consumption by 10.2 percent for one hour, which is the equivalent of taking 48,000 cars off the road for a year.
Due to the success of last year’s event, many major global cities – including Chicago, Atlanta, Phoenix and San Francisco – are joining Earth Hour in 2008, turning a symbolic event into a global movement. Chicago is the U.S. flagship city, and DePaul was among the first universities to sign on and publicly announce its participation.
Here at DePaul, most of the observation efforts for Earth Hour will take place on the Loop Campus. All exterior lighting, including ornamental lighting, will be shut off, as will much of the non-emergency interior lights. In addition, a large banner announcing Earth Hour and DePaul’s support has been mounted on the west side of the O’Malley Place overlooking the DePaul Center Plaza.
Participation on the Lincoln Park Campus will be limited to designated interior lighting and individual dorm rooms of students who participate to ensure safety and security on our residential campus.
By visiting the WWF’s Web site, www.earthhour.org, you can learn more about Earth Hour, how to get involved in your town or local community and how to reduce your impact on climate change..
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