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World Votes For Decisive Climate Action In Massive Earth Hour Event


UAE takes up the challenge with a massive call to action










Hundreds of millions of people in thousands of communities worldwide have urged their leaders to come up with decisive global action on climate change this year in an WWF Earth Hour event surpassing all expectations. Research and audits to better define the numbers participating are planned for the near future but it was already clear that the lights out for one hour from 8.30 pm local time “vote for earth” event was embraced by many more than the 3943 communities from 88 countries across 25 time zones registered to participate, including the UAE and other Middle Eastern states. The inaugural Earth Hour in 2007 involved just two million people in one city, Sydney, Australia. Some 53 million in 371 cities in 35 countries took up the rallying cry in 2008. This year’s overwhelming participation reflects growing global concern over climate change and the inability of the world so far to craft an effective global response, WWF said. Standing under the Eiffel Tower in Paris as the signature landmark of the City of Light turned its lights off, WWF Director General James Leape said “Over the next eight months governments have to come together to crack the problem of climate change.” “Hundreds of millions of people all over the planet are setting the momentum we need to get the climate deal we need in Copenhagen in December.” Earlier, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had described WWF’s Earth Hour as “the largest demonstration of public concern about climate change ever attempted.” “Earth Hour is a way for the citizens of the world to send a clear message they want action on climate change,” he said, looking forward to the UN conference on climate change in Copenhagen in December which is charged with coming up with a replacement to the expiring – and inadequate – Kyoto Protocol. “People will be telling their representatives to seal a deal in Copenhagen,” he said. “We need an ambitious agreement, an agreement that is fair and effective, an agreement based on sound science.” Middle East picks up the call Demonstrating the growing appetite in the region to tackle climate change, numerous events were held to mark Earth Hour. In Abu Dhabi, Coldplay played at the Emirates Palace and wore Earth Hour branded T-shirts on stage to promote the need to tackle climate change. The band also wore wristbands promoting the ‘Heroes of the UAE’ campaign, developed by Emirates Wildlife Society (EWS) – WWF, which aims to get people to save energy everyday and reduce the country’s high carbon footprint. Several Abu Dhabi landmarks were turned off, including the Environment Agency of Abu Dhabi (EAD) building and ten of its partners. EAD also held an environmental awareness seminar for its employees. EWS-WWF staff and volunteers used the concert as a platform to raise awareness for the ‘Heroes’ campaign by providing some 15,000 concert attendees with “Hero” wristbands detailing the campaign URL: heroesoftheuae.ae. ‘Heroes’ is an ongoing local campaign, directed specifically at people living and working in the UAE to take simple energy saving actions on a sustained basis and help tackle the country’s high carbon Footprint, climate change and rising demand for energy. Demonstrating the rising appetite among society to tackle climate change, the event was also the UAE’s first carbon neutral concert, where the organisers (Flash) chose to offset the carbon footprint of the event via a gold certified project. With thousands of people now more aware of the campaign, EWS-WWF hopes to inspire more people living in the UAE to save energy every day and sustain it in the long-term. “While Earth Hour is a powerful symbol of what can be achieved through collective action on a global scale, our ‘Heroes of the UAE’ campaign is the opportunity for individuals residing in the UAE to take this initiative further and save energy everyday to tackle climate change because we all have to play a role - individuals, businesses and governments,” said Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak, Managing Director, Emirates Wildlife Society (EWS) – WWF. For the second year running Dubai demonstrated that it is dedicated to raising awareness about climate change as two of the city’s major architectural jewels were blanketed in darkness; The Burj Al Arab and the Burj Dubai. At the Jumeirah Beach Residence Walk, thousands of people gathered to show their support of Earth Hour and their concern for climate change. Fujairah participated for the first time this year. Homes, and offices as well as street lights in many parts of Fujairah were turned off. Fujeirah Municipality hosted a mini Earth Hour marathon for children on the day after Earth hour. Kuwait: a day of activities leading up to and during Earth Hour were held, including an environmental fair and a Global Warming Seminar by a scientific expert from the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Researches, at the popular tourist attraction Green Island. During Earth Hour, the public was given access to a telescope public to star gaze. Egypt: the 5000 year old Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx became the oldest of the many monuments turning off for Earth Hour, reflecting concern on looming collision between population growth and the drying already apparent from climate change. “Climate change is a growing international crisis no country can afford to overlook,” said Egypt’s First Lady, Suzanne Mubarak earlier this week. Istanbul: the city where Europe and Asia meet, led the global Earth Hour movement in Turkey, bolstered by the support of dozens of companies, from international stalwarts to local enterprises. “Earth Hour is a very good opportunity to move the public towards action.” WWF-Turkey CEO Filiz Demirayak said.

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