Moths help Australia turn out the lights for Earth Hour

To advertise earth hour in Australia Leo Burnett created this one minute ad spot for earth hour, 8.30pm Saturday March 26.

On a more serious note, Julia Guillard also did a video for Earth Hour (see end of page).


"I believe 2011 is the year Australia will choose action," Prime Minister Gillard said from Parliament House Canberra, one of the landmarks that will go dark for an hour this Saturday night (tonight at 8.30pm). "Everyone taking part in Earth Hour this year is helping make sure this is so."

"The simple and powerful idea of switching off lights for an hour to drive action on climate change began in Sydney and has been embraced around the world," Gillard said. "Earth Hour has become a special symbol of determination of so many people to make a difference."

Hundreds of millions of people in 133 countries and territories across the globe are expected to switch off their lights at 8:30pm local time, Saturday 26 March.

The symbolic action originated in Sydney when an estimated 2.2 million people participated in 2007, growing to 50 million people in 400 cities around the world in 2008 and even more in 2009. In 2010 more than 1,000 cities and towns in 120 countries around the world participated.

Symbolic actions like Earth Hour are safe for politicians to endorse. They don't entail a great deal of commitment or ongoing action.

Writing an opinion piece for ABC Environment, Mark Ogge from Beyond Zero Emissions called for transition to 100% renewable electricity generation. "There would be no need to turn off our lights if they were powered by clean, renewable energy sources. That way we could both celebrate energy and its many rewards and be comfortable in the knowledge that we aren't jeopardising our climate and future generations."

Beyond Zero Emissons in cooperation with Melbourne University Energy Research Institute put together Zero Carbon Australia - Stationary Energy Plan to show How to achieve Zero Carbon Emissions by 2020 in stationary energy production - that transitioning to renewable energy was feasible and achieveable with current technologies. The launch of this report occured in July 2010.

"When we reconsider the problem of climate change as an energy challenge, human civilisation can turn its undivided attention to deploying the renewable energy technologies already at our disposal. With renewable energy, every hour can be Earth Hour." Mark Ogge concluded.

Two US based researchers say that A carbon neutral solar and wind powered world in 20 to 40 years is achievable. All it takes is the political and social will to make it happen.

We know Tony Abbott can't make it happen! Will you help make it happen Julia?