TORONTO – Many Canadians turned off their lights for an hour Saturday night as part of a global and symbolic stand against climate change.
In New Brunswick the government-owned utililty NB Power tweeted a picture of its Fredericton headquarters darkened.
Toronto’s CN Tower turned off all exterior lighting except for aircraft safety lights and reduced as much interior lighting as it could.
Toronto Hydro tweeted that power usage dropped by six per cent during Earth Hour.
B.C. Hydro says British Columbians reduced the provincial electricity load by one per cent — the equivalent of turning off about 1.4 million lights.
The utility says it’s the lowest figure recorded since it started measuring the event’s energy savings in 2008.
Organizers say Earth Hour shows how a small act — turning off lights — can have a powerful effect when enough people carry it out.
The World Wildlife Fund is the driving force behind the annual campaign to urge people to turn their lights off for an hour on Saturday night _ between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m local time in Canada.
Earth Hour started in 2007 in Australia and has since expanded to involve thousands of cities and towns across the world.
Municipalities and utilities have embraced the annual event, devoting space on their web sites to promote it.
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