03/28/2009
People around the world, including in the suburbs and in Chicago, will be asked if they are willing to live in the dark for one hour in order to shed light on the problem of global warming.
Judging by the list of local organizations already signed on to participate, belief in the human contribution to global warming is more than twice what it was just one year ago. Nearly 60 suburban communities, schools and businesses will switch off all nonessential electricity from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 tonight. They'll be joined by iconic skylines and monuments from 80 nations stretching the globe from Albania to Zambia at exactly the same time. All told, the event, in only its third year, is expected to include about 1 billion participants in about 1,200 cities.
Locally, participating groups are getting involved for various reasons.
Benedictine University in Lisle will reverse the Biblical phrase, "Let there be light" for one hour as part of its three-year Go Green Initiative. Beyond that, Assistant Professor Jean-Marie Kauth said the university and its students have a religious obligation to be stewards of the planet. Benedictines have held that as a religious tenet for 400 years, she said. And, after all, even the Vatican has solar panels these days.
Benedictine will darken most of the outdoor lighting in parking lots, the library and the student center. Students are being asked to switch off dorm lights as well. Instead, a bonfire will light up the campus as students celebrate with music and a gathering.
University staff are asking people to use common sense in celebrating Earth Hour.
"For instance, we don't want people driving to campus to come celebrate with us," Kauth said. "That would be really counterproductive from an environmental aspect."
Indeed, the specific environmental impacts of Earth Hour will be measured by many participants in different ways. For instance, last year ComEd reported a 7 percent drop in power usage throughout northern Illinois during Earth Hour compared to the same hour the preceding week. That's the equivalent of saving about 72,000 gallons of gasoline.
This year, expect that total to be even more.
Jones Lang LaSalle manages or leases 1.4 billion square feet of office space around the globe. More than 60 million square feet of that office space is in the Chicagoland area, including the Aon Center and Boeing Building in Chicago, the East West Corporate Center in Naperville, the Woodfield Financial Centre in Schaumburg and the Waubonsee Corporate Center in Sugar Grove. But last year, barely half of the Chicago area properties they managed participated in Earth Hour. This year, spokeswoman Brooke Houghton said she expects 100 percent participation. That means cutting 40 tons of greenhouse gases those buildings would have otherwise spewed into the atmosphere, and reaping the financial rewards of a lower energy bill.
The number of Jones Lang LaSalle employees committing to observe Earth Hour at their own home has also more than doubled. Board games, star gazing, flashlight scavenger hunts and candlelit dinners are all popular plans with employees for the evening of Earth Hour, Houghton said.
"This year, it's definitely about practice what your preach," she said.
Ultimately, the World Wildlife Federation, which organizes Earth Hour, hopes this year's event will spark a very long-term impact at the end of this year. In December, world leaders are set to meet at the United Nations Climate Change Conference to potentially sign a new treaty for environmental standards. The wildlife federation believes every light switched off during Earth Hour is a symbolic vote for a unified, corrective global action on climate change.
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