Turn off the lights . . . for only one hour!

Barbadians are being urged to join with millions worldwide on Saturday, March 29, from 8 p.m. in an initiative called Earth Hour. The call is not only for the lights, but for the plug to be pulled on all non-essential electrical items for those 60 minutes.

Nicole Garofano, a volunteer administrator at Counterpart Caribbean, based at the Future Centre Trustin Edgehill, St Thomas, said the goal was to help raise awareness of the need to reduce fuel use and greenhouse gases globally.

"In Barbados we are not a great contributor to greenhouse gases, or even as a region, but the fact remains that we rely heavily on imported fuels to create our electricity," she told the weekend Nation, adding that
her research showed the island used an average
of 375 000 gallons of fuel per day to meet the island's energy needs.

Reducing use

"It's all about reducing our use of resources, reducing our dependency on global markets for oil, and making our choice
to reduce our impact on the country's resources
and on the long-term environment."

Garofano said Earth Day was born out of an event that started in Sydney, Australia, last year, which attracted two million residents of Sydney and 2 100 businesses. As a result of its success, she added, it was decided at the Bali climate change conference last year to take it to a global community.

"So far 90 countries have signed up and Barbados is one of them
. . . . It will be done the same time around the world [taking into account time differences]."

She said that so far, she had enlisted 12 organisations, including businesses and representative groups of businesses, to participate and also spread the message, particularly to schools.

In fact, those in schools are being asked to play their part the day before – March 28 – by switching off and unplugging
non-essential lighting
and appliances during lunchtime.

"If we can use something like this event to create an awareness,
to help people make a conscious decision to turn off a light or unplug a fan, or use their washing machine less often –
the everyday stuff we
all take for granted –
then the point of the
event would have
been achieved."
(BW)

*For more information, look up www.earthhour.org