"地球一小時"始于2007年3月31日，澳大利亞悉尼熄燈一小時。當晚，大約有220萬悉尼家庭和企業熄燈一小時悉尼成功減少了10.2％的用電量。一年以后，2008年3月29日，"地球一小時"已成為一項全球性并持續發展的活動，超過35個國家多達5000萬人參與其中。今年，在"低碳"越來越受關注的中國，越來越多的城市加入到這個活動當中，共同創造這個美麗的"黑暗時刻"，共同為地球的明天做出貢獻。
This Saturday evening, some of the world's most iconic spots will go dark in honor of Earth Hour. Among them are the Sydney Opera House, the Forbidden City in Beijing, the Eiffel Tower and the Empire State Building, to name just a few.
Businesses and households in more than 100 countries and regions will also be part of the campaign, organized by the World Wide Fund for Nature.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also calls for support for the initiative.
"Earth Hour is a way for citizens of the world to send a clear message: they want action in climate change."
In China, almost 20 cities have registered to participate in Earth Hour.
In Beijing, the National Centre for the Performing Arts will join in the campaign for the second year. Wei Ping from the center says all the landscape lamps and the illumination system in the public area, offices and theaters will be switched off. As a music and dance epic will be onstage during that time, only the emergency fire lights will be left on.
"The audiences can see large posters about Earth Hour outside the building. And we will also hand out pamphlets. What's more, we have already made a promo about the campaign that will be aired before the performance, calling for the audiences to opt for a low-carbon lifestyle in their everyday lives."
Wei Ping says last year, the center's participation in Earth Hour caused a buzz in the neighborhood, with hundreds of citizens coming out to witness the moment.
"After turning off all the lights at home, an old lady came to see us switch off our illumination system. So I think for the "lights out" initiative, no matter if it is done by the Forbidden City, the National Centre for the Performing Arts or ordinary people, we all have the unanimous goal of making our planet a better place."
While admitting the energy reductions brought about by a one hour "lights out" campaign is certainly not sufficient to turn the tide of climate-changing carbon emissions, Su Xiaowei, Earth Hour manager for China, says the WWF has made this week low-carbon week in China, encouraging people to take one easy low-carbon action every day.
"For people who don't care about environment issues, it's really a way to get those people involved. We want people to feel like being environmentally-friendly could be fun and easy."
The WWF also stresses that Earth Hour will be followed by more new campaigns to get people involved in tackling climate change. |