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'Dark' Earth Hour sheds light on climate change

(Agencies/Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-03-29 09:58

Fast industrialization and urbanization has made China a major emitter and the government has promised to cut the nation's energy consumption by 20 percent by the year of 2010.

In a videotaped speech last week, the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for a global support of Earth Hour, saying it would be a clear message for action on climate change.

A combination picture shows a view of Beijing's National Grand Theater before (top) and during Earth Hour March 28, 2009. More than 80 countries have signed up for Earth Hour on Saturday in which homes, office towers and landmarks will turn off their lights from 8.30 pm local time to raise awareness about climate change and the threat from rising greenhouse gas emissions. [Agencies]

As a response, college and university students in Beijing, Nanjing, Wuhan, Shanghai and Baoding geared up for innovative activities ranging from outdoor lectures, walks, to an unplugged concert.

Some 100 students gathered at the prestigious Peking University in Beijing Saturday night, offering telescopes to passer-bys for them to observe the starry sky.

"Earth Hour should talk about not only climate change, but also the importance of darkness, because light pollution in cities has seriously affect astronomical observation," Liu Boyang, a sophomore majoring in astronomy, told Xinhua.

"I don't expect too many people to heed the call (for turning off lights) tonight. But this should not be only for tonight - we must do energy saving everyday," he said.

Popular website douban.com asked its users to "log off for one hour."

Even a mimic of the Eiffel Tower in an amusement park in south China's Shenzhen City plunged into darkness before the real one in Paris goes dark eight hours later.

"Enthusiasm of the Chinese individuals and governments (to support the campaign) has been overwhelming, though this is the first year for China to hold Earth Hour activities," Dermot O'Gorman, WWF China Country Representative, told Xinhua.

"This will send an important message to the world that people in China are becoming more aware of climate change issues," he said.

But not everyone is so convinced.

Dozens of posts on youdao.com questioned whether Earth Hour was as meaningful as many said, or just a hype.

"Think about carbon emissions caused by holding this activity, "an unidentified post said, while another post questioned whether people living without electricity should get credit because they "literally go dark everyday."

"It is true that Earth Hour is just for one hour each year. One person may be small, but we can make difference if we work collectively to change behaviors," said O'Gorman, who has been working in China for four years.

"People in China become more aware of and more concerned about climate change and environmental issues. Also the country is led by a very strong leadership which is also more aware of the issues," he said.

"This is a very important message to the world," he said.

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