King County to Turn Off Lights Saturday Night in Support of Global Earth Hour

As part of a global call for action on climate change, King County will join hundreds of millions of people and tens of thousands of organizations by having its non-essential facilities go dark for one hour from 8:30-9:30 p.m. Saturday, March 26.

"Turning off the lights for one hour is a positive gesture to call attention to the relationship between energy use and climate change,” said King County Executive Dow Constantine. “The real challenge is translating this gesture into earth-friendly actions we can take at all hours of every day.”

Constantine signed a proclamation in support of Earth Hour 2011, a global climate event led by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). From King County, to London, to Australia, skylines will go dark for one hour as individuals, businesses, government buildings, schools and major landmarks turn off non-essential lighting in what is billed as the largest climate awareness event in history.

Constantine said the lights will stay on where needed at county facilities for public safety, security and essential operations. Building superintendents will see that non-essential lighting will be off from 8:30-9:30 p.m.

"We encourage residents and businesses to think about their energy use and turn off all non-essential lights, electrical appliances, electronics and machines," he said.

Beyond Earth Hour, Constantine has already increased the county’s commitments to reducing energy use in all aspects of its operations, from investments in hybrid-electric buses to continuous improvements in the way facilities are designed and operated. By replacing older diesel buses with hybrids, the county is reducing annual greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 18,000 metric tons.

The county is also updating its greenhouse gas emissions inventory to become the first county to assess emissions that result from goods like electronics and food that may be produced outside the county but are used locally.

Earth Hour is a global WWF initiative that began in Sydney in 2007, when 2 million people switched off their lights. In 2008, more than 50 million people all over the world took part in the action. In 2009 almost 1 billion people worldwide switched off their lights and in 2010, Earth Hour involved 4,200 cities in 125 countries.

Learn more about Earth Hour at http://www.earthhour.org/Homepage.aspx. See how King County is responding to climate change at http://www.kingcounty.gov/climate.