Lights in more than 100 buildings and landmarks will be turned off for an hour tomorrow in observance of “Earth Hour,” a global event that aims to raise awareness of the need to address the problem of climate change.
The event was first launched in Australia in 2007, when millions of residents in Sydney volunteered to switch off non-essential lights for an hour.
Since then, an increasing number of countries observe Earth Hour, which takes place on the last Saturday of March between 8:30pm and 9:30pm each year.
Taiwan started observing Earth Hour in 2010.
According to the Society of Wilderness, which helps organize the event in Taiwan, 2.2 billion people in 135 countries are scheduled to observe Earth Hour this year.
Society of Wilderness president Lai Jung-hsiao (賴榮孝) said the -society aimed to encourage more local residents and organizations to join the event tomorrow.
“We hope that we can have a million residents, a hundred corporations and a hundred buildings in Taiwan participate in the event,” Lai said.
“We have invited celebrities to lead the countdown to the event. On March 1, we had [Acer Inc founder] Stan Shih (施振榮). Tomorrow, it will be President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九),” Lai said.
“We hope to spread the message through social media sites and meet our goal this year,” Lai said.
Lai said more than 100 local organizations have signed up to participate.
Non-essential lights at several landmarks around the country, including the Presidential Office and Taipei 101 in Taipei, as well as the Liouhe Night Market and E-Da Theme Park in Greater Kao-hsiung, will turned off for an hour tomorrow.
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