Source: PDI
MANILA, Philippines—“This is amazing. I’m having goosebumps. This makes me realize that we can still do a lot of things even without electricity,” a teenage girl was overheard telling her mom as lights were switched off for an hour at SM Mall of Asia (MOA) on Saturday night as part of a worldwide observance of Earth Hour.
For 60 minutes, the lights went out in other malls and in many homes across the Philippines in a symbolic act intended to make people reflect in darkness about how to fight global warming.
Gregg Yan, media officer of environment group WWF-Philippines (World Wide Fund for Nature), estimated 18 million Filipinos took part.
The remark from the unidentified girl came during the switch-off ceremony at MOA. Government officials, including Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras and Environment Secretary Ramon Paje, led participants in a candle-lighting ceremony.
With only candles providing illumination, participants were treated to songs and numbers in praise of Mother Earth.
SM North in Quezon City also dimmed its lights.
In Sydney, Australia’s Opera House was the first of many global landmarks to go dark on Saturday as Earth Hour got under way with hundreds of millions of people around the world set to switch off their lights.
The Eiffel Tower in Paris and the world’s tallest building in Dubai will also have their lights turned off for 60 minutes.
This year’s event has been given added poignancy by Japan’s nuclear disaster, which raises doubts about nuclear power as a possible solution to the energy problem.
Another record
In Iloilo City, officials and environmental groups led in turning off lights and appliances at the SM City mall. Many residential areas joined in the action.
Houses and hotels on Boracay Island also switched off their lights as did big malls in Cebu, like SM City, Ayala Center Cebu and Emall.
In Baguio City, cadets of the Philippine Military Academy formed the phrase “PMA Earth Hour 2011” at Fort del Pilar’s Borromeo Field at 8:30 p.m. The cadets pledged to push efforts in saving the environment.
In Pangasinan, local radio station Aksyon Radyo signed off at 8:30 p.m., an hour and a half earlier than scheduled, as part of its participation.
Yan said about 1,500 cities, towns and municipalities all over the country committed to participate in last night’s event.
“Definitely, with that figure, we’ve already exceeded last year’s number of participants and for the third consecutive year, our country has again topped global participation levels,” Yan said.
Last year, more than 15 million Filipinos in 1,076 towns and cities participated in the activity.
Jose Ma. Lorenzo Tan, WWF-Philippines president, said: “We must go beyond the one-hour switch off. If we want lasting and effective results, then we must inculcate the true spirit of the event into our lives, let’s adopt Earth-friendly practices and lifestyles.”
“The amount of power that’s saved during that time is not really what it’s about,” Earth Hour cofounder and executive director Andy Ridley told Agence France-Presse in Sydney, where the movement began in 2007.
“What it is meant to be about is showing what can happen when people come together.”
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon backed Earth Hour, urging people to celebrate the shared quest to “protect the planet and ensure human well-being.”
“Let us use 60 minutes of darkness to help the world see the light,” he said.
Largest voluntary action
Ridley said a record 134 countries or territories were on board for the event, which organizers have dubbed the world’s largest voluntary action for the environment.
Other landmarks that will go dark for the hour are Times Square in New York, Beijing’s “Bird’s Nest” stadium that hosted the 2008 Olympics, the London Eye and Brazil’s Christ the Redeemer statue.
The lights will be turned off from 8:30 p.m. local time around the world.
It kicked off in the Pacific, Fiji, New Zealand and Australia, and then rolled into Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas as it followed the descending sun.
In Japan, reeling from a huge earthquake and tsunami, several thousands of people and a hotel-turned-evacuation center were expected to mark Earth Day.
“People in Japan will have a special feeling this year when they turn the switches off,” WWF spokesperson Hideko Arai told AFP.
“We will not only think about climate change but also the people who need energy in the disaster-hit areas,” she said. “We want to show our support for disaster victims.”
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MANILA, Philippines—“This is amazing. I’m having goosebumps. This makes me realize that we can still do a lot of things even without electricity,” a teenage girl was overheard telling her mom as lights were switched off for an hour at SM Mall of Asia (MOA) on Saturday night as part of a worldwide observance of Earth Hour.
For 60 minutes, the lights went out in other malls and in many homes across the Philippines in a symbolic act intended to make people reflect in darkness about how to fight global warming.
Gregg Yan, media officer of environment group WWF-Philippines (World Wide Fund for Nature), estimated 18 million Filipinos took part.
The remark from the unidentified girl came during the switch-off ceremony at MOA. Government officials, including Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras and Environment Secretary Ramon Paje, led participants in a candle-lighting ceremony.
With only candles providing illumination, participants were treated to songs and numbers in praise of Mother Earth.
SM North in Quezon City also dimmed its lights.
In Sydney, Australia’s Opera House was the first of many global landmarks to go dark on Saturday as Earth Hour got under way with hundreds of millions of people around the world set to switch off their lights.
The Eiffel Tower in Paris and the world’s tallest building in Dubai will also have their lights turned off for 60 minutes.
This year’s event has been given added poignancy by Japan’s nuclear disaster, which raises doubts about nuclear power as a possible solution to the energy problem.
Another record
In Iloilo City, officials and environmental groups led in turning off lights and appliances at the SM City mall. Many residential areas joined in the action.
Houses and hotels on Boracay Island also switched off their lights as did big malls in Cebu, like SM City, Ayala Center Cebu and Emall.
In Baguio City, cadets of the Philippine Military Academy formed the phrase “PMA Earth Hour 2011” at Fort del Pilar’s Borromeo Field at 8:30 p.m. The cadets pledged to push efforts in saving the environment.
In Pangasinan, local radio station Aksyon Radyo signed off at 8:30 p.m., an hour and a half earlier than scheduled, as part of its participation.
Yan said about 1,500 cities, towns and municipalities all over the country committed to participate in last night’s event.
“Definitely, with that figure, we’ve already exceeded last year’s number of participants and for the third consecutive year, our country has again topped global participation levels,” Yan said.
Last year, more than 15 million Filipinos in 1,076 towns and cities participated in the activity.
Jose Ma. Lorenzo Tan, WWF-Philippines president, said: “We must go beyond the one-hour switch off. If we want lasting and effective results, then we must inculcate the true spirit of the event into our lives, let’s adopt Earth-friendly practices and lifestyles.”
“The amount of power that’s saved during that time is not really what it’s about,” Earth Hour cofounder and executive director Andy Ridley told Agence France-Presse in Sydney, where the movement began in 2007.
“What it is meant to be about is showing what can happen when people come together.”
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon backed Earth Hour, urging people to celebrate the shared quest to “protect the planet and ensure human well-being.”
“Let us use 60 minutes of darkness to help the world see the light,” he said.
Largest voluntary action
Ridley said a record 134 countries or territories were on board for the event, which organizers have dubbed the world’s largest voluntary action for the environment.
Other landmarks that will go dark for the hour are Times Square in New York, Beijing’s “Bird’s Nest” stadium that hosted the 2008 Olympics, the London Eye and Brazil’s Christ the Redeemer statue.
The lights will be turned off from 8:30 p.m. local time around the world.
It kicked off in the Pacific, Fiji, New Zealand and Australia, and then rolled into Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas as it followed the descending sun.
In Japan, reeling from a huge earthquake and tsunami, several thousands of people and a hotel-turned-evacuation center were expected to mark Earth Day.
“People in Japan will have a special feeling this year when they turn the switches off,” WWF spokesperson Hideko Arai told AFP.
“We will not only think about climate change but also the people who need energy in the disaster-hit areas,” she said. “We want to show our support for disaster victims.”
