Focus
City answers the call
By Shi Jing (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-03-29 07:54
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On Saturday at 8:30 pm the Forbidden City was plunged into darkness and the lights went out at Beijing's Olympic venues, the Bird's Nest and Water Cube. At the same time the lights also dimmed in other major landmarks as well as many shopping centers and officice buildings.
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) started the Earth Hour campaign in 2007. Since then a growing number of individuals, communities, companies and governments all over the world have voluntarily turned off their lights for one hour on the last Saturday night of every March to promote the idea of energy conservation and carbon emission reduction.
So, across the globe as local clocks struck 8.30 pm, landmark buildings, such as the Sydney Opera House, the Grand Palace in Bangkok and the Eiffel Tower all turned off their lights.
According to media reports, more buildings and companies in Beijing had turned off their lights during the Earth Hour this year.
In one community, the MOMA Apartments housing with 1,400 families in eastern Beijing, all residents switched off their light during the Earth Hour, leaving only road lamps on.
However, despite such warm responses, some local people suggested that the campaign was merely a publicity event, without much practical effect. Some were even afraid that the Earth Hour during which users turned off their lights might have caused an overload on the grid.
But orgnaizers believed the campaign was significant in arousing public awareness of climate change and environmental protection.
A man exhales a total of 1.14 kg of CO2 every day just by breathing. By using a computer, he will emit another 10.5 kg of CO2.
A typical office worker in China for example, will release a total of 2,611 tons of CO2 every year if he or she lives in a 40-sq-m apartment, drives a 1.6-liter car and flies 12 times during a year.
If you give up driving to work one day a month, CO2 emissions would be reduced by 98 kg a year. Even eating less meat will help to protect the environment. As more energy is consumed to produce meat than growing vegetables, eating just half a kilogram of meat less would reduce CO2 emissions by 700 grams.
To inspire readers, METRO reported low-carbon lifestyles of Beijingers who help make a difference in conserving energy. We recorded what readers could do each hour in the past week, until 8:30 pm, March 27, when many people turned the lights off for the Earth Hour.
Photos by Wang Jing, Zou Hong, Zhang Guilan and Tian Baoxi
