Earth Hour

Fact sheet outlining the impacts of Light at Night [LAN]

Listen to the last interview on RTE Radio 1 before the event

SYMBOLIC SWITCH OFF IGNORED BY CORPORATE IRELAND

While Earth Hour is being heralded as a success in Ireland for ordinary people, the vast bulk of Irish businesses did not support the symbolic event in which individuals, organizations, and governments were asked to switch off non-essential lights for one hour.

First begun by the World Wildlife Fund [WWF] in Sydney, Australia, in 2007 as a way of raising awareness of the impact an individual can have on energy consumption, the event involved 2.2 million people. This year early reports indicate that as many as 100 million people around the world took part last Saturday night at 8 PM.

However in spite of the best efforts of the Ministers for the Environment, the Office of Public Works, the Lord Mayor of Dublin and the Labour Party, buildings such as the international banks and brokerages of Dublin's financial district blazed away with light as they do every weekend, illuminating empty buildings at the expense of the environment.

Eirgrid, which manages that national electricity network, has reported to the Irish Times that there was a reduction of 50 megawatts during the three hour period from pm. This is enough electricity to power 32,500 homes.

3,500 businesses in 35 countries signed up for the campaign. Dublin's Chamber of Commerce sent 14,000 emails to Irish businesses.

But Tony Lowes of FIE said that ‘Many of our calls to Corporate and Social Responsibility officers in Irish businesses were never even returned. Perhaps this makes the points that individuals are more concerned with Global Warming than corporate Ireland.'

FIE is assisting in coordinating Earth Hour here in Ireland. Please contact us if you would like to be put in touch with others who are working on the next Earth Hour.