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Sharjah Museums Department To Mark "Earth Hour" On March 27


At 8:30 pm, lights will be switched off for one hour to raise awareness on excessive electricity use and its adverse impact on the environment










As part of its ‘Because We Care’ initiative and ‘Earth Week’ activities, Sharjah Museums Department (SMD) is supporting ‘Earth Hour’ day on March 27 by switching off the lights of its 16 museums and by organizing a number of programmes at the different museums. This initiative is part of SMD’s commitment to join hands with global efforts in raising awareness on the need to take individual actions for protecting the environment.

Manal Ataya, Director General of SMD, said: “Earth Hour is a global initiative that calls for collaboration among people of all ages, nationalities and backgrounds to stand as one and take collective action to promote sustainable environmental practices. What we need now is simply to choose to use consume less energy. We all have the responsibility to change our habits of consumption and work together for a positive change”

“The highlight of the Earth Hour campaign will see the world’s most iconic landmarks go dark for one designated hour, as people across the globe turn off their lights to celebrate what we all have in common – the need for a healthy planet. We believe that individual actions on a large scale can have enormous impact. We must stand together and unify our efforts in protecting our planet,” added Manal Ataya.

The Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilization will organize a lecture at 11 am entitled ’Ecological Master planning in the Architecture and Garden Projects of Sharjah’ outlining and explaining the basic sustainable principles and questioning some of the western methodologies and developing a regional sensitive approach for Sharjah. The museum will also host an event “Switch On” where visitors can discover the history of lighting throughout the Islamic civilization by touring the galleries and participating in an interesting quiz on the topic.

Sharjah Discovery Centre will organize workshops for children at 6:30pm on clean environment and on recycling demonstrating the principles of global warming and how to save the environment while making aesthetic art works from recycled materials.

Sharjah Aquarium will screen the documentary on climate change, “The Age of Stupid” at 6:30pm at the Aquarium conference room, while different outdoor activities will be carried out in the yard of Sharjah Aquarium and Sharjah Maritime Museum. These activities include face painting, a treasure hunt and shadow puppets show for kids by volunteer students from Sharjah University. Emirates Wildlife Society (EWS) will distribute energy saving light bulbs and tip sheets from the Heroes of UAE environmental awareness campaign. A painting exhibition on the environment will also be held for visitors.

From 8:30 to 9:30pm the lights will go off across the Sharjah museums, SMD, Al Qasba and other government departments.

Earth Hour 2009 created history as the greatest voluntary action ever witnessed, representing the first ever global vote. Registrations, polling and energy reduction levels indicate that hundreds of millions of people voted Earth over Global Warming with their light switch in 4159 cities, towns and municipalities across 88 countries, including 73 national capitals and 9 of the world’s 10 most populated cities. Global landmarks that switched off in support included The Sphinx and Pyramids at Giza, the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the Acropolis in Athens.

The main sponsor of the “Earth Week” event is Mega Mall; the golden sponsor is Petrofac and silver sponsors are Ashjan and Bee’ah. The supporters of the Earth Week event are Environment and Protected Areas Authority, Sharjah TV, Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority (SEWA), Krispy Kream, Masafi, Sharjah Premier Hotel and Resort, Sharjah City of Humanitarian Services, Emirates Wildlife Society - World Wildlife Fund for Nature (EWS-WWF) and 60 Earth Hour.

"Conserving energy is not only good for the bottom line, but our company has always believed in operating our business responsibly. At Mega Mall, we will continue to take an even closer look at actions we can take throughout the organization to operate more efficiently, reduce waste and lessen our contribution to carbon footprint," said Saeed Bin Mohammed Al-Qassimi, Vice President of Mega Mall.

"To help us make sure the lights go out on March 27 for the Earth Hour, we are totally turning off lights outside the mall while maintaining only 50% usage inside the mall for safety reasons. At the same time, we have requested all our tenants to switch off lights they do not need inside their shop from 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm. In addition, we’d like to encourage everyone to participate in Earth Hour by turning off their lights at home during the event. We’ll also be asking our customers, clients and shoppers to join us in supporting Earth Hour," added Saeed Bin Mohammed Al-Qassimi.

The Sharjah Museums Department, established in 2006 by His Highness Dr. Sheikh Sultan Bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Member of Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, aims to promote the emirate’s rich legacy of arts, heritage and culture. For more information on Sharjah Museums Department, please visit the website www.sharjahmuseums.ae.
 

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