Filipinos urged to turn off lights on Earth Hour

MANILA, Philippines - With an all-time high of 650 towns and cities voluntarily turning off lights last year, Environment Secretary Horacio Ramos called on all Filipinos to again be part of Earth Hour on Saturday.

“We have the power of numbers,” he said in a statement issued yesterday, noting that although constituting only about one percent of the world’s population of 6.8 billion, “90 million Filipinos, by being good environmental citizens, can make an impact on this side of the biosphere.”

Ramos urged Filipinos to again switch off their lights at exactly 8:30 p.m. on March 27, simultaneously with other people across the globe, to trumpet pleas for people to start mending their wasteful ways and save Planet Earth.  

The choice Filipinos will make on Saturday will underscore the seriousness of climate change now occurring in many parts of the world, he said.

“Once more we mark with the world the coming of Earth Hour... responding to Planet Earth’s need for a respite from suffocation,” Ramos said.

Last year, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) said out of 88 countries with different time zones, the Philippines was top participant in the event with more than 15 million Filipinos voluntarily saving energy.

The country saved around 611 megawatt-hours of electricity in 2009, “equivalent to shutting down a dozen coal-fired power plants for 60 minutes.”

Calling the feat “not enough,” Ramos sought Filipinos’ solidarity on Earth Hour 2010 to carry it out “on a daily basis... in our homes, our communities and our organizations.”

He noted that many parts of the country are experiencing power outages because of the shortage in hydroelectric power generation induced by El Niño.

“Yet El Niño itself is a reminder that we should reduce our carbon footprint and rebuild our carbon sinks, particularly our forests, to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere - the carbon dioxide which, with other greenhouse gases, has brought about global warming,” he said.

Started in Australia in 2007, the Philippines was third in participation among nations, with 309 towns and cities joining the event.

Greece placed second with 484 participating towns and cities.   – Michael Punongbayan