Earth Hour is nigh

BY RAFFY BOUDJIKANIAN

raffy.boudjikanian@transcontinental.ca

Since The Chronicle last wrote about the international Earth Hour initiative coming to darken your path on March 29, three more West Island municipalities and the borough of Pierrefonds/Roxboro have decided to turn the lights off.

"The lights will be shut down for an hour at borough hall on Saturday night between 8 and 9 p.m.," said Pierrefonds/Roxboro spokesperson Johanne Paladini.

The idea behind shutting down all lights for an hour began last year in Sydney, Australia, where national monuments, 2.2 million residents and 2100 businesses went dark in order to symbolically show just how much energy is spent needlessly on a global scale these days.

"I suspect that the energy savings will be minimal," said Pointe Claire Mayor Bill McMurchie, whose city will also be participating by cutting down power in all public buildings for the aforementioned hour. However, he added the exercise could serve as a great tool to make the public more aware of problems regarding energy consumption world-wide.

"We were kind of hoping that the more people would find out about it, the more people would participate," said Dollard des Ormeaux Mayor Ed Janiszewski. Dollard town hall will also turn off all lights between 8 and 9 p.m. on Saturday.

Janiszewski added he would like to ideally see news of the event spread through word of mouth, with people who find out about it informing and encouraging their friends, neighbours and family to participate.

Baie d'Urfé also recently adopted a resolution regarding Earth Hour. West Island municipalities that had previously tabled Earth Hour resolutions include Dorval, Beaconsfield and Kirkland.