Earth Hour 2008 from Toronto, Canada

by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03.30.08
Take Action (events)

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wwf flickr photostream

If it didn't exactly go nutso, Toronto took Earth Hour seriously; Ten thousand people turned up in Nathan Phillips Square to hear Nelly Furtado and others perform. Lights dimmed across the city; in our neighbourhood only one house still had lights blazing.

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The local electrical utility reported an 8.7% drop in consumption; Photo Toronto Star

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The city looked quite different; photo Toronto Star; good video here

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I was going to bike down to the party but must confess we stayed home and played with our new puppy.

Elsewhere in Canada:

Coast guard icebreaker keeps enough light to warn if polar bears try to jump on deck
ABOARD THE CCGS AMUNDSEN–The only point of light in a vast stretch of the frozen Arctic Ocean dimmed slightly last night as the research icebreaker Amundsen symbolically joined the global movement for the environment. ::The Star

Prime Minster Harper Snubs Earth Hour- Thanks to its place of prominence in the capital, 24 Sussex Dr., the Prime Minister's residence, is always easy to spot. As Ottawa went dark last night for Earth Hour, it was even easier.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's lights stayed on. ::The Star

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Comments (5)

what was the emissions estimates on all the candles and tiki torches used for light during this hour?

jump to top crevis79 says:

We are on day 3 of "Earth Hour" at our house. The kids want to do it every night. This will be a great success when we receive our hydro bill. One house at a time is what I always say ! What a great idea. Follow our progress on our blog: Offgrid-Living.com

Does anyone know how much energy and emissions were averted globally due to Earth Hour?

jump to top Teresa says:

Isn't this something we should be doing every possible day?

One hour is great, two hours - even better.

jump to top Carolynita says:

this was close by in hamilton, ontario. we recorded our song "lights out" in the dark for earth hour, you can view it here: http://blog.mojavemusic.ca/blog/earthhour/

jump to top paul says:

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