Staff
The countdown is on as people around the globe, including those here in Rainy River District, join together and turn out their lights for “Earth Hour” this Saturday between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m.
Created by the World Wildlife Federation just two years ago, “Earth Hour” has grown as a way for people to show their support for saving the planet and taking action against climate change.
The WWF estimates more than 150 communities, and around 10 million people, participated in “Earth Hour” in Canada alone last year.
While the Fort Frances Power Corp. hasn’t been able to promote Earth Hour as much as they had hoped to this year, they do hope residents will participate, said Lori Cain, cost and regulatory analyst with the FFPC.
Events like “Earth Hour” are important, she said, because they bring about awareness about the energy we use as “a global issue, as a member of this Earth, and just to use our energy wisely.”
“In Canada, we’ve been a very energy-rich country, [but] our past and our history has been to waste,” Cain noted. “And the change is now to be aware and use wisely all the energy that we need to support our lifestyle.”
Students won’t be in class during the actual “Earth Hour,” of course, but many schools across the district have been gearing up with environmental and energy-saving projects as it approaches.
For this whole week, J.W. Walker here is turning out the lights for an hour at the end of each school day, as well as all day Friday if possible. To top that off, the school also plans to ban the sale of bottled water there.
At St. Francis, St. Michael’s, and Our Lady of the Way, “Earth Hour” activities will be held from 2-3 p.m. tomorrow (March 26).
“All lights in classrooms and throughout the school will be turned off during that time,” said St. Francis teacher Jean Bujold.
“Some teachers will be using the period to teach students about the environment, or using the environment to teach other subjects,” she explained.
To show its solidarity with the schools’ efforts, the Northwest Catholic District School Board’s Fort Frances office will be turning off its own lights all day tomorrow.
“It is great to see both students and staff making an effort to support the ‘Earth Hour’ initiative,” said Education Director Mary-Catherine Kelly.
With its ability to track hour by hour consumption of electricity, the FFPC actually can tell how big of a difference “Earth Hour” will make, said Cain, though adding this year isn’t necessarily as comparable to last year’s “Earth Hour” due to the long and cold winter here.
“[In] 2008-2009, we’ve actually used more energy as a town because the winter has been the longest winter on record, and we’ve just really had high consumption,” Cain noted, saying that in December and January, the town actually peaked out at its highest kilowatt per hour consumption in years.
“Earth Hour” isn’t the only event approaching, though. Cain noted Energy Conservation Week will run from May 17-23.
The FFPC hopefully will be running some sort of program during that week, she said. It’s also the week when they will start installing “smart meters” in Fort Frances.
“This is all part of how we’re changing how we view energy, in that everyone has a shared responsibility [to use it] wisely, and this is all a part of our initiative,” Cain remarked.
“We do have the energy conservation programs, and one of them have been the power-saving blitz. The involvement by the small business community is just huge right now,” added Cain, noting the response of this area has been four times that of small businesses in Thunder Bay.
“We’re really glad because I think that this town is quite responsive to these type of initiatives, so that’s great.”
The first “Earth Hour” took place in Sydney, Australia, where 2.2 million homes and businesses participated by turning off their lights.
By 2008, the “hour” had captured participants from around the globe, with an estimated 50 million people turning off their lights.
This year, the project is aiming for one billion people to participate and “Vote Earth” by switching off their lights.
While the event hopes to encourage individuals to take a role in minimizing their environmental footprint, the WWF also hopes this “vote” will send a message to world leaders who will be meeting in December in Copenhagen, Denmark “to negotiate a new global deal on climate change to replace Kyoto.”
By registering their participation online at http://wwf.ca/earthhour, people also can be entered in a draw to see polar bears in Churchill, Man.
