Sydney Tower was one of the first to turn off, quickly followed by other buildings in the CBD. A big cheer erupted from the crowd at Mrs Macquarie's Chair when the Harbour Bridge and Opera House finally switched off their lights, leaving Sydney's skyline impressively dark.
At the candlelit official launch ceremony, Sydney's Lord Mayor Clover Moore, Australian Environment Minister Peter Garrett, WWF Youth Ambassador Parrys Raine and WWF CEO Greg Bourne spoke about the importance of Earth Hour in raising awareness of climate change. Australian singer-songwriter Pete Murray also gave an amazing acoustic performance with the city skyline as backdrop.
2 comments:
It was so heart warming to see that this event has raised so much community awareness about such an important issues as climate change which will affect us all and the future generations. Well done everyone.
Please also think about raising community awareness about human values like Truth, Right Conduct, Love, Peace and Non-Violence by joining the national walk for values event to be held on Saturday 12th April 2008 in all major cities in Australia. For more details, please visit the following web link.
http://nationalwalkforvalues.org/
Ok Earth Hour is over, now get involved to make some real changes:
Climate Change | Social Change
A conference to strengthen radical social action to stop climate change
April 11-13, 2008, Sydney, Australia
Redfern Community Centre, 29 Hugo St, Redfern, day sessions Friday April 11;
Sydney Girls High School, Anzac Pde, Surry Hills, Friday night, April 11 – Sunday April 13
[See attached agenda and registration form]
The world is teetering on the brink of unstoppable climate change. Many now recognise the need for serious change in the way we produce and use energy, our transport systems, food production, urban design and forestry practices. Yet politicians are still mouthing platitudes while allowing corporations to continue to profit from polluting our atmosphere and destroying our ecosystem.
The need for social change has become an urgent part of preventing catastrophic climate change. Can the market fix the problem? What is the real record of carbon trading? How can we build a social movement capable of averting this disaster? What models and experiences can offer real solutions?
To strengthen the exchange of ideas and contribute towards that urgent action Green Left Weekly is organising the Climate Change | Social Change conference from April 11-13, 2008, in Sydney.
Featuring:
* John Bellamy Foster — author of Marx's Ecology: Materialism and Nature; editor of Monthly Review.
* Patrick Bond — director of the Centre for Civil Society, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa; editor of Climate Change, Carbon Trading and Civil Society.
* Roberto Perez — Cuban permaculturalist (featured in The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil).
Speakers from Australia include:
* Matt Thistlethwaite — Unions NSW deputy assistant secretary
* John Kaye — Greens NSW MLC
* Stephanie Long — Friends of the Earth Australia's international climate justice spokesperson; works on FoE International's climate change campaign
* Mark Diesendorf — Institute of Environmental Studies, University of NSW
* Tim Anderson — senior lecturer political economy, Sydney University
* David Spratt — co-editor, Climate Code Red
* Marlene Obeid — solidarity activist
* Jim Green — Friends of the Earth anti-nuclear campaigner
* Dick Nichols — author of Environment, Capitalism and Socialism
* Renfrey Clarke — Green Left Weekly environment correspondent
* Cam Walker — Friends of the Earth, Melbourne
* John Rice — Adelaide Ecosocialist Network
* Sam Watson — Biri Gubba, Munnejarl man from the Brisbane Murri community
* Adrian Whitehead — Zero Emissions Network
* Pat Eatock — elder from the Kairie community in central Queensland and secretary of the National Aboriginal Alliance
* Stuart Rosewarne — co-editor of Journal of Australian Political Economy and Capitalism, Nature, Socialism
* James Goodman — researcher on social movements at the University of Technology Sydney writer on Southern responses to global warming
To receive updates about the conference, send an email to
climatechange_socialchangeconf_announce-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
Child care will be available on Saturday April 12 and Sunday April 13 during conference session times. To allow us to have sufficient staff, please let us know by Friday March 28 (email climateconf@greenleft.org.au )if you will require child care.
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