Global landmarks from Sydney’s Opera House to the Forbidden City to the glittering Las Vegas Strip were scheduled to turn off their lights yesterday, as activists bid to reinvigorate the climate change fight.
Hundreds of millions of homes, in scores of cities scattered around 125 countries were also expected to join the great Earth Hour switch-off, which comes just months after disappointing UN climate talks in Copenhagen.
Iconic structures like the Empire State Building and Egypt’s pyramids were to follow conservation group WWF’s call to turn off the lights in the name of environmentalism, creating a wave of darkness that rolled across the world.
PHOTO: EPA
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the campaign, now in its fourth year and expected to attract record participation, “both a warning and a beacon of hope.”
“Climate change is a concern for each of us. Solutions are within our grasp and are ready to be implemented by individuals, communities, businesses and governments around the globe,” Ban said.
Sydney’s Opera House and Harbour Bridge were to informally kick off proceedings at 8:30pm along with millions of Australian households.
The pattern was to be replicated at the same local time across the world, spreading across Asia to the Middle East, Europe, Africa and the Americas and including 1,200 famous landmarks.
Beijing’s Forbidden City and Bird’s Nest Stadium were among the participants along with dozens of cities in China, the world’s biggest carbon polluter, where giant panda Mei Lan is an Earth Hour ambassador.
Hong Kong’s renowned neon waterfront was to temporarily dim, as well as the Singapore Flyer observation wheel and office buildings in Jakarta and Seoul, before India’s massive urban centers of Delhi and Mumbai join the power-down.
London’s Big Ben and Manchester United’s Old Trafford soccer ground were set to take part amongst Europe’s best known spots including Paris’s Notre Dame cathedral and the Trevi Fountain in Rome.
In the US, about 30 states were on board, with Mount Rushmore, San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge and Chicago’s 110-story Sears Tower all due to go dark.
In Bangkok, however, the city’s authorities were under military orders to halt their Earth Hour campaign for security reasons, as anti-government protesters planned another major rally.
Earth Hour started in 2007 in Sydney and now enjoys widespread support both from the public and big business, including Google, Coca-Cola and McDonald’s.
This year, even users of ubiquitous Twitter and Facebook were able to show their support with special applications that turn their displays dark.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese