Counting down the hours until Earth Hour

Will you be in the dark on Saturday night? If so you’ll be part of a world wide movement to show your concern about climate change.

Earth Hour is planned from 8 to 9 pm on Saturday, as Prince Rupert joins cities and towns across the globe in drawing awareness to the issue of climate change.

The city’s Green Advisory Task force will be hosting a two hour block party on Saturday as part of the Earth hour celebrations, including a music festival in front of city hall from 7:30 to 9:30 pm.

In the spirit of Earth Hour and its goal of energy awareness of that the 8-9 portion of the show will be an acoustical set… bring you own tambourine and spoon set…

The Daily News featured the plans for the weekend celebration as their front page story in Thursday’s paper.

CITY GETTING BEHIND EARTH HOUR CONCEPT ON WEEKEND
Growing world event will be celebrated in Rueprt with several activities
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Pages one and two

Prince Rupert will be in the dark this Saturday evening as business, governments and individuals flick the switch to show how much they care about climate change.

Earth Hour, a WWF event that occurs globally, takes place from 8 to 9 p.m. on Sat., March 29.
In celebration, the city of Prince Rupert's Green Advisory Task Force and Communities in Bloom committees are co-hosting a block party and music festival on Third Avenue in front of city hall from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m.

"Our event starts at 7:30 p.m. downtown. At 8 p.m., we are asking everybody to turn off all of the power they can find in their house except maybe their freezers for one hour until 9 p.m. We have a block party downtown from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. and we are going to have music and face-painting. The Prince Rupert Green Advisory Task Force is going to use this as the first part of their consultation process on what Prince Rupert can do about Greenhouse gas reduction," said Coun. Joy Thorkelson.

“We will have unplugged music. I think it is going to be a lot of fun. We will have a countdown at 8 p. m. in front of city hall and then the party will be on its way. At 9 p. m., we can turn our lights back on because it is really just an awareness-raising campaign. B. C. Hydro will be able to tell us how much power we saved by turning our lights and power off.”

Anyone participating in Earth Hour is asked to sign up at the World Wildlife Federation website so the organization can keep track of the number of participants on a global scale.

Of all the countries participating in Earth Hour on March 29 at 8 p. m., Canada is leading the global effort on both the number of individuals who have signed up for the event and the number of cities participating. To date, almost 30,000 Canadians have registered their participation for Earth Hour and more than 60 cities from coast to coast have also pledged to turn off the lights on March 29.

In addition, on Sat., March 29, there will be a green energy and alternatives fair taking place at Northwest Community College in the multipurpose room from 1 to 5 p.m. Held in conjunction with Earth Hour, the fair will include displays by the WWF, Prince Rupert Environmental Society, The North Coast Water Quality and Biotoxin Society, Prince Rupert Green Advisory Task Force and others.

It will focus on the small changes people can make in their lives to fight climate change and save energy. For more information, or to be part of the event, call Gina Clark at 627-4331.