With an all-time high of 650 towns and cities voluntarily turning off lights last year, Environment Secretary Horacio Ramos called on all Filipinos to again be part of Earth Hour on Saturday.
Ramos urged Filipinos to again switch off their lights at exactly 8:30 p.m. on March 27, simultaneously with other people across the globe, to trumpet pleas for people to start mending their wasteful ways and save Planet Earth.
The choice Filipinos will make on Saturday will underscore the seriousness of climate change now occurring in many parts of the world, he said.
Last year, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) said out of 88 countries with different time zones, the Philippines was top participant in the event with more than 15 million Filipinos voluntarily saving energy.
The country saved around 611 megawatt-hours of electricity in 2009, “equivalent to shutting down a dozen coal-fired power plants for 60 minutes.”
Calling the feat “not enough,” Ramos sought Filipinos’ solidarity on Earth Hour 2010 to carry it out “on a daily basis… in our homes, our communities and our organizations.” (PIA-Bohol)
