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Belfast switches off for Earth Hour

By Linda McKee
Saturday, 28 March 2009

Above: Belfast in the dark

enlarge

Belfast switches to candlelight this evening as people, schools and businesses join the battle against climate change by dimming the lights for WWF’s Earth Hour.

The Parliament Buildings at Stormont, Belfast Wheel, Lagan Weir, the Odyssey, Queen’s University Belfast, Victoria Square Dome and City Hall will all be plunged into darkness as part of the biggest ever show of global support for action against climate change.

Between 8.30pm and 9.30pm, businesses such as IKEA, HSBC and Ulster Bank will switch off, while the Belfast Giants will participate during the home game against the Cardiff Devils by dimming their screens.

More than 2,800 towns and cities from all over the world, including London, Cardiff, Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester and Edinburgh, have signed up to support WWF's Earth Hour.

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Get over yourselves. Such nonsense. It does not cost a fortune to turn lights on again MiHe, do you believe everything your mammy tells you? PMcC - attitudes like yours aren't helpful. You and your like think you're so smart - if educated people say black you say white. The rest of you, look at the evidence - if nothing else, we who participated collectively saved a fortune that doesn't get to line the pockets of NIE.

Posted by long life lamp | 30.03.09, 22:25 GMT

Costs an absolute fortune to start them all up again. Its uses much more resource to switch all the lights back on, than to just let them run. Great picture though, captures Belfast well.

Posted by MiHe | 30.03.09, 11:51 GMT

Great picture.

Posted by Dave the Rave | 30.03.09, 10:18 GMT

PMcC,

Ever thought of running for election? I'd vote for you!

A very well articulated dollop of common sense, well done....

Posted by StephenM | 29.03.09, 16:30 GMT

This is rather a futile gesture. If only bureaucrats would begin by turning off half the street lights etc, etc.
I hope PMcC that your even more futile gesture costs you an arm and a leg - I believe it's known as, 'biting off your nose to spite your face!'.

Posted by robbo | 29.03.09, 14:14 GMT

Neanderthal Northern Ireland residents, now twinned with a tyre burning, flat earth, cave dweller near you. When people here doubt something, or don't believe it, then you KNOW that it must be true.

No wonder we are such a bankrupt backwater where nothing works properly. Just look at the intellectual capacity of those in charge. When you spend most of your time at the bottom of the pond, the light is very dim, but you get used to it and think of it as normality.

Posted by plannisaurus rex | 28.03.09, 21:46 GMT

This is DICTATORSHIP gone mad. Some eejit decides to turn their lights off for a whole 60 minutes and the whole world is supposed to do likewise? Naw, NOT for me.

Posted by Stuart | 28.03.09, 20:18 GMT

Mary Watts - we omit Carbon Dioxide. If you're so concerned you may consider switching yourself off for an hour.

There is no evidence for anthropogenic global warming (let's not have the spurious "eminent scientists" argument) and is simply the latest secular religion for those with too little to do.

PMcC - understand the attitude but perhaps it's better to just plough on and ignore it. Keeping electricity bills down is the only good reason to switch off.

Posted by AGW Heretic | 28.03.09, 19:55 GMT

As an act of protest against the false, man made religion of warmism I shall be doing the following between 20:30 and 21:30 on March 28th 2009:

> turning every light in the house on

> turning on every single electrical appliance

> turning on the security lights at the front and rear of my house (to deter any opportunist thieves who obviously will see 'Earth Hour' as a gift)

> telephoning friends and family to inform them that Earth Hour,
MMGW, the threat of imminent climatic doom are nothing more than a leftist, liberal, pseudo-communist, champagne-socialist whiping post against the 'evil' western world

> rapping the front door of all neighbours in my street to tell them the same

I will be taking the above action because I do not buy the dogma, the propaganda or the wild claims from the warmists that 'climate change' is a threat. The climate has always been in a state of change, before, during and I very confidently predict, long after the industrial revolution!

Posted by PMcC | 28.03.09, 18:01 GMT

Spare me this nonsense! When people have enough food to eat, clean water to drink, and children are not dying needlessly. Then I will turn out my lights.

Posted by Terry Macartney | 28.03.09, 16:55 GMT

I for one will not participate in this silly childish nonsense. When you only scratch the surface of a problem you can feel sanctimonious, without making any serious effort to solve it.

Posted by Malachy McAnespie | 28.03.09, 11:22 GMT

Great picture of Belfast in the dark!

Posted by Karen | 28.03.09, 09:41 GMT

Doesn't lighting candles for Earth Hour defeat the purpose? After all, candles emit carbon dioxide. Most candles are made of paraffin, a heavy hydrocarbon derived from crude oil. Linda, as you are the BT environment correspondent I am hoping you can explain this. Thanks!! Ps. the image is hilarious.

Posted by Mary Watts, Belfast | 28.03.09, 09:37 GMT