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Residents encouraged to turn off lights for Earth Hour - Live5News.com | Charleston, SC | News, Weather, Sports

Residents encouraged to turn off lights for Earth Hour

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(Photo: MGN Generic) (Photo: MGN Generic)
CHARLESTON COUNTY, SC (WCSC) -

The Charleston County Environmental Management Department is encouraging residents to turn off their lights for Earth Hour on March 23 at 8:30 p.m.

Hundreds of millions of people around the world are expected to turn off their lights for Earth Hour, the world's largest collective display of commitment to protect the planet.

Residents can also use Twitter to send their Earth Hour photo @ChasCountyGov with the hash tag #ChasCountyEarthHour

"How much power we are able to save isn't the main focus," said Charleston County's Solid Waste Committee Chair and County Councilmember Anna Johnson. "What it is really about is discovering what can happen when people come together to support the sustainability of our planet."

Charleston County officials provided the following information on Earth Hour:

  • Earth Hour was created by the World Wildlife Fund to raise awareness about the need to preserve energy.
  • The event first took place in 2007, when 2.2 million residents of Sydney, Australia participated by turning off all non-essential lights. Following Sydney's lead, many other cities around the world adopted the event in 2008.
  • During Earth Hour 2012, 135 countries and territories, over 5,000 towns and cities, and millions of people on all seven continents turned off their lights as world-wide icons also went dark, including the Sydney Opera House, the Coliseum in Rome, Stockholm's Royal Castle, the Empire State Building and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Google turned its homepage black for an entire day in tribute.

Information provided by Charleston County.