An Hour Off for the Earth
Ari Paskoff is a sophomore at American University and an intern at the RAC.
Our global supply of fossil fuels is running out, and their detrimental effects on the environment are becoming more evident everyday. The economic recovery package allocated tens of billions of dollars to transform our national energy system to begin to run on clean, renewable energy sources. Renewable energy from wind, sun, as well as geothermal sources, is being developed around the world as the answer to our current system's negative effects on the environment.
There are several ways that we can get involved to help increase renewable energy use throughout our country, and throughout the world. This Saturday, March 28th at 8:30 P.M. local time there will be a global "Earth Hour" during which participants in over 2,712 cities in 84 countries all over the world will simultaneously turn off their lights.
Our global supply of fossil fuels is running out, and their detrimental effects on the environment are becoming more evident everyday. The economic recovery package allocated tens of billions of dollars to transform our national energy system to begin to run on clean, renewable energy sources. Renewable energy from wind, sun, as well as geothermal sources, is being developed around the world as the answer to our current system's negative effects on the environment.
There are several ways that we can get involved to help increase renewable energy use throughout our country, and throughout the world. This Saturday, March 28th at 8:30 P.M. local time there will be a global "Earth Hour" during which participants in over 2,712 cities in 84 countries all over the world will simultaneously turn off their lights.
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is organizing the event, saying this hour serves as a global election; the lights
switched off are voting yes to end global climate change by changing the energy
policies of today. The goal this year is for 1 billion people to turn their
lights off during Earth Hour. The results of this event will be presented to
the world leaders at the UN Framework
Convention on Climate Change conference in Copenhagen in December. This
conference will help decide global energy and climate policy to help make the
world more environmentally friendly.
There is also new legislation in Congress to help fund and support renewable energy initiatives. Senators Tom Udall and Mark Udall recently proposed a Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) that would require utilities to generate at least 25% of their power from renewables by 2025. It is important that you contact your legislators, urging them to support this standard to help make our country a leader in the low-carbon future.
These are just two ways in which you can make a difference and call on our government to act on renewable energy legislation. Renewable energy is a long-term solution to our energy and environment problems, and the sooner we start using these sources, the better.
There is also new legislation in Congress to help fund and support renewable energy initiatives. Senators Tom Udall and Mark Udall recently proposed a Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) that would require utilities to generate at least 25% of their power from renewables by 2025. It is important that you contact your legislators, urging them to support this standard to help make our country a leader in the low-carbon future.
These are just two ways in which you can make a difference and call on our government to act on renewable energy legislation. Renewable energy is a long-term solution to our energy and environment problems, and the sooner we start using these sources, the better.