Earth Hour draws fewer Kiwis

Fewer New Zealanders switched off their lights for Earth Hour last night than last year.

National power grid operator Transpower reported power consumption was down 2 percent for the World Wide Fund for Nature-sponsored climate change awareness event, compared to the 3.5 percent savings recorded last year.

Those on the West Coast apparently signalled the greatest awareness and saved the most, totalling 13 percent.

Canterbury saved 8 percent, Wellington used 4 percent less and Auckland 1 percent.

Otago-Southland, Otago-Southland Northland, Bay of Plenty and Taranaki registered no difference.

The hour, which took place between 8.30pm and 9.30pm last night, was the fourth of the annual awareness days to take place.

Kiwi landmarks including Auckland's Sky Tower, Wellington's Beehive, Paeroa's L&P bottle and Te Puke's giant Kiwifruit all turned off their lights, along with other places of note including the Pyramids, Big Ben, the Eiffel Tower, San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Acropolis.

The government of Tuvalu turned off power for the whole of the low-lying country

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/3517903/Earth-Hour-draws-fewer-Kiwis

interesting read in stuff today, that earth hour is on the decline in NZ, possible theoretical reasons in my opinion, that the one individual making a difference thing isnt sinking in, earth hour would only succeed collectively, and the one individual probably doesn't see the instant results as a direct result from their participation, so the direct consequence of their actions isnt really seen.

also earth hour has a lot of critics, but this could be because earth hour is the largest profile eco campaign

The critics’ main beef: turning off the lights for an hour and thinking that it’ll make a difference is a joke. All it is is happy hour and the hype is not sustainable. This is not a carbon neutral event, because the debris and emissions created by the euphoria could prove more harmful than the damage it seeks to prevent. Can’t the money be used to do really meaningful activities like neighborhood recycling centers. Anyone remember Live Earth 2007? Why so quiet now?

http://damiensden.wordpress.com/2009/03/27/earth-hour-supporters-vs-critics/