Results tagged “earthhour”

Yesterday we told you about Earth Hour, the global initiative created by the World Wildlife Fund that encourages individuals and businesses to turn off their lights for one hour to make a statement about conservation and climate change. The event takes place this Saturday from 8:30 p.m. til 9:30 p.m. and the WWF hopes to reach 1 billion participants worldwide. Today we'd like to tell you about some places in Chicago that are holding events to mark the occasion. You can also look at an interactive map on the Earth Hour website to find the closest event to you.

A global initiative created by the World Wildlife Fund, Earth Hour encourages individuals and businesses to turn off their lights for one hour to make a statement about conservation and climate change. This year's Earth Hour will take place this Saturday, March 28, starting at 8:30 p.m. The event started in Sydney, Australia in 2007, and it became a global event in 2008, with participants in 35 different countries and over 400 cities. This year it has grown even more with the WWF hoping to reach 1 billion participants worldwide. Already 2,500 cities in 82 countries have committed to participate.

You might say Al Gore is compensating for something. A former Vice President, Nobel Peace prize winner, Academy Award winner, New York Times bestseller, Chairman of Emmy award winning independent TV network Current TV, inventor of the Internet and expert kisser, he can also add a recent book deal and Chicago Theatre speaking engagement to his long list of accolades.

             

In case you didn't notice, the Chicago skyline has been showing its Irish pride like everyone else by wearing its finest green outfits. Every few weeks a few brave individuals travel to the tops of the city to change the colors of the lights on the tops of our skyline, but how do they do it? "Magic and pixie dust," he said. Of course, Randy Stancik, building manager of the Sears Tower, was joking. It is actually a manual process, Stancik said. It takes two men about two hours to change the colors, attaching theatrical gels to the tops of the 22 spotlights that illuminate the antennae.

Earth Hour officials indicate last year there were 2.2 million who participated in a one-hour effort to bring awareness to energy conservation. Yesterday, they estimated that number was around 10 million. In Chicago, the Sears Tower, the John Hancock, the Wrigley Building, and the Tribune Tower dimmed decorative lights, while 500 McDonald’s throughout Chicagoland turned off their golden arches. In the theatre district, marquees went dark, and Elphaba, the witch from "Wicked" turned out the lights with a dramatic "spell". Navy Pier’s iconic ferris wheel went dark and nearly every store on the Magnificent Mile turned out their lights.

Earth Hour, the global movement bringing awareness to power consumption that we told you about earlier this week, is only a few hours away.

The World Wildlife Fund wants us kept in the dark. They are the organizers of the worldwide Earth Hour event taking place this Saturday from 8:00 - 9:00 p.m. When the hour strikes, the hope is that as many people as possible will turn out their lights for 60 minutes in an attempt to raise awareness on the issue of global warming.

Mark your calendars: For one hour on March 29th, Chicago will be in the dark. The City of Chicago and COM ED are asking businesses and residents to turn off their lights and unplug all electrical devices between 8 and 9pm on Saturday, March 29th to participate in Earth Hour, a global initiative organized by the World Wildlife Fund in which cities and communities turn out their lights to symbolize their commitment to finding climate change solutions.