Monday 16 March 2009

Roger Gale calls on North Thanet to switch off for WWF’s Earth Hour

Roger Gale press release

Roger Gale took time out on Wednesday 11 March to support WWF’s Earth Hour by turning off a giant light switch.

“Climate change is the biggest single issue facing the planet” says Roger “and if we are to bequeath to our children and our grandchildren anything other than a critically damaged environment then we have to get the message across now. I believe that as politicians we also have to remember that we are custodians, not owners. We have to think and act for the long term and we have to do it today”.

Earth Hour is a huge global switch off for one hour on the 28th March to draw attention to the urgent need for action on climate change at the UN conference in Copenhagen this year. WWF’s Earth Hour aims to inspire a billion people in 1,000 cities to show global support for action on climate change. So far more than 1000 cities in 84 countries have signed up including London, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast in the UK.

Many iconic landmarks will be switching off their lights such as Nelson’s Column in London, the Forth Bridge in Edinburgh, the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Table Mountain in Cape Town, Sydney Opera House and Paris’ Eiffel Tower. Former Spice Girl Mel C, Cate Blanchett and Archbishop Desmond Tutu have all lent their voices to Earth Hour’s global call for action on climate change.

WWF is encouraging Thanet and Canterbury to join the big switch off by dimming and switching off lights of civic buildings and iconic landmarks. Restaurants and bars are asked to get involved by holding candlelit dinners on the night and members of the public can also hold their own events such as lights out parties. People can sign up to support WWF’s Earth Hour by visiting wwf.org.uk/earthhour or by texting Earth to 84880

Colin Butfield, head of campaigns at WWF UK, said: "We are delighted that Roger is backing WWF’s Earth Hour. Negotiations for a global deal to tackle climate change are going on right now and it is essential that politicians demand the UK Government takes a strong leadership position.

“We want to create a groundswell of support and this is a chance for the people of North Thanet to be part of a global action on climate change. Global leaders meet at the UN conference in Copenhagen later this year to determine how the world will work together to tackle climate change in future. A billion people across the globe turning off their lights sends a loud and clear message to politicians that they must make it happen.”

Sign up and spread the word about WWF's Earth Hour with downloadable posters, light switch covers, Earth Hour toolkits and more at: wwf.org.uk/earthhour

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Editor's notes
The way we live is leading to environmental threats such as climate change, species extinction, deforestation, water shortages and the collapse of fisheries. WWF’s One Planet Future Campaign is working to help people live a good quality of life within the earth’s capacity. For more information visit www.wwf.org.uk/oneplanet

5 comments:

  1. The moment "Climate Change" is taken seriously by business and government is the moment that I will.

    Until such times......

    ReplyDelete
  2. Switching off lights isn't the solution. Free recycling collections might start to help, a reduction in Council Tax if your property recycles more waste. Get electricity companies to supply more incentives, such as free energy saving equipment. Government inspired grants to encourage the use of solar power and renewable energy. Let's face it there are lots of ways we can save energy, but there are no set regulations to help us.

    ReplyDelete
  3. @ 13:21

    Exactly, and that is why, no matter what the Government say, they aren't that serious about "Climate Change".

    All these "turn your lights off" events are just gimmicks to make people feel good for a few minutes, they don't actually make a difference at all.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Give up your cars & get walking / cycling more, as well as shop locally. Far more effective.

    ReplyDelete
  5. So Planespotter, governments and business don't do enough.

    ...but aren't you one of the cheer-leaders for the expansion of Manston?

    Some joined-up thinking might do you some good.

    ReplyDelete

Comments, since I started writing this blog in 2007 the way the internet works has changed a lot, comments and dialogue here were once viable in an open and anonymous sense. Now if you comment here I will only allow the comment if it seems to make sense and be related to what the post is about. I link the majority of my posts to the main local Facebook groups and to my Facebook account, “Michael Child” I guess the main Ramsgate Facebook group is We Love Ramsgate. For the most part the comments and dialogue related to the posts here goes on there. As for the rest of it, well this blog handles images better than Facebook, which is why I don’t post directly to my Facebook account, although if I take a lot of photos I am so lazy that I paste them directly from my camera card to my bookshop website and put a link on this blog.