Dublin council will go dark to persuade people to see the light

Dublin City Council is to be one of the lead Irish supporters of this year's Earth Hour - a global environmental campaign to switch off non-essential lights for one hour on March 29th next, to highlight climate change, energy wastage and light pollution.

Dublin's Lord Mayor Cllr Paddy Burke has asked businesses, households and individuals to "recognise the need for action on global warming and the need to conserve energy, reduce carbon emissions and also the need to reduce light pollution of our night skies".

The mayor is asking people to participate by switching off "all non-essential" lights between 9pm and 10pm. The mayor is also asking other councils across the State to take part and motions to that effect are to come before councils in Co Clare, and the cities of Cork and Galway this evening.

The gesture is aimed at reminding individuals and governments of the need for individual responsibility in relation to energy savings.

Mayor Burke said the idea was first used last year by the World Wildlife Fund in Sydney, Australia.

There, the world famous opera house and bridge were darkened for an hour and some 2.2 million people switched off their household lights, which resulted in a 10 per cent drop in energy usage in the city.

"This year the event is going global, with cities such as Chicago, Copenhagen and Dublin taking part.

"Earth Hour brings home that from an individual to government and everyone in between, we have a shared responsibility to conserve energy and help tackle climate change", he said.

The campaign is also backed by the Labour Party, Friends of The Irish Environment (FIE) and the Irish Light Pollution Awareness Campaign.

A spokesman for FIE said that "while its encouraging to see local authorities reacting positively to the idea, we are anxious that the business community around Ireland will also support this idea - and that the ordinary person has the opportunity to help."

The spokesman said that there was "a widespread belief that energy conservation is just a temporary phenomena and that alternative sources of power will enable us to continue just as we are.

"In fact, the whole of society is facing an unprecedented change in the world we live in. The longer we wait, the harder its going to be" he said.

Dublin City Council said it would carry out an assessment of which lights may be switched off for the hour.

The Earth Hour website is www.earthhour.org/