Barrie residents urged to 'switch it off' for Earth Hour

Earth Hour proponents are hoping the city gets a little darker Saturday night.

The eighth annual Earth Hour takes place on Saturday from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. and residents are urged to shut off as many electrical appliances and lights as possible to conserve energy and promote conservation efforts.

Earth Hour the global environmental movement initiated in Sydney, Australia in 2007 as a campaign for action on climate change has grown to become the worlds largest mass participation event in history, according to the organization's website.From one city eight years ago it's spread to more than 7,000 cities in seven continents and hundreds of millions of people.

"Earth Hour's mission is three-fold," said Earth Hour CEO and co-founder Andy Ridley. "That is to bring people together through a symbolic hour-long event.To galvanize people into taking action beyond the hour. And to create an interconnected global community sharing the mutual goal of creating a sustainable future for the planet."

That attitude extends all they way down to just one person switching off a light, or a youngster learning that it's important to protect Mother Earth.

Terry Fox Elementary School students have been recognizing Earth Hour this week prior to the actual event on Saturday by monitoring power usage throughout their north-end school. They used a 'Watt-O-Meter' to check out electrical appliances in the office, staff room and classrooms such as a pencil sharpener, ice maker, coffee machine, toaster, kettle, microwave, freezer and printer.

Even at the tender age of 11, Dylan Sabourin knows what Earth Hour is about and what his family will do for 60 minutes on Saturday night.

"We turn off practically everything except the fridge and the furnace," he said, while using the Watt-O-Meter with classmate Emily Youell.

His outlook is what Terry Fox vice-principal Primrose Goss wants to hear.

"Young people will eventually be the responsible citizens that will inhabit this beautiful earth," Goss said. "This Earth Hour that we recognize by 'powering down' not only brings the importance of the saving the environment to light, it shows in a practical way that they can survive without the things in our lives that require an electric source of power.

Originally posted here:
Barrie residents urged to 'switch it off' for Earth Hour