A year ago, I used my powers of sarcasm to criticize Amman for not joining the rest of a lengthy list of world cities that turned off their lights for an hour to mark “Earth Hour” – an initiative to push the issue of global warming in to psyche of people and government everywhere. I was very much entranced by the initiative that I even tried (and failed miserably) to get my readers (that means you) to turn off their lights for an hour on the 28th of every month. But not all experiments are destined to succeed I suppose.
But this year, Amman will fortunately be taking part in the worldwide initiative and in giving credit where it’s due, I tip my hat off to the minister of environment Khalid Irani for a job well done.
I encourage everyone reading to participate. It’s just one hour, and it’s on a Saturday. You can turn on your computers right after and tell me how it went. Get friends and family to participate. You might be the only who knows why exactly the lights aren’t working so use that power of information wisely. If you’re a blogger, blog about it ahead of time to spread the word. If you’re a reader, go out and take pictures or video of your neighborhood or Amman’s darkened landmarks. Document it. Write about it. Send it in to 7iber to get published.
Saturday, March 28th.
8:30pm to 9:30pm
See you when the lights go off!
ah man no hell no , would be the longest hr ever… XD
guess would be buying candles and reading some stuff for a change..
whats the point exactly?
Can i turn off the lights and watch tv in the dark ? We do that ALL the time it’s called movie night
Thanks for promoting Earth Hour! Another way you can recruit people to the cause is by creating a Earth Hour group on Commit21.com. Simply create a group about one action that you will commit to do for Earth Hour and recruit your friends, family, and co-workers to get involved in that action as well. When it comes to climate change, simple actions can make huge differences and Commit21 leverages social media to influence networks of friends, family, and co-workers. Check it out at http://www.commit21.com
the point is to stop using anything that causes pollution, mainly electricity tho(so sadly u cant watch tv, tv consumes more elc than the neon light :P)..
Thanks for promoting Earth Hour! Another way you can recruit people to the cause is by creating a Earth Hour group on Commit21.com. Simply create a group about one action that you will commit to do for Earth Hour and recruit your friends, family, and co-workers to get involved in that action as well. When it comes to climate change, simple actions can make huge differences and Commit21 leverages social media to influence networks of friends, family, and co-workers. Check it out at http://www.commit21.com
Thank you Ali… you took the words out of my mouth… but i want to add a (sigh) instead of a 🙂 !
This Saturday March 28th, under the patronage of H.E. Khaled Irani and with the support of the Greater Amman Municipality, join the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature in supporting Earth Hour 2009 at the Wild Jordan Nature Center in an evening of raising awareness on global warming, while we wait to turn off our lights at 8:30 to Vote Earth, as part of the world’s first global election between Earth and global warming.
The event will kick start at 6:00pm with a viewing of Al Gore’s award-winning documentary “An Inconvenient Truthâ€, followed by talks from honored patron H.E. Minister of Environment Khaled Irani on our country’s efforts towards sustainable energy, and at 8:30 we will vote for earth by switching off our lights and heading out on a candlelit march through Jabal Amman.
For more information on this event, please contact us at (+962 6) 4616523 or email us at pr@rscn.org.jo.
It’s more like of an election between earth and global warming, this year logo says (( your light switch is your vote )) stick to that and, it’s just a symbolic idea of something the whole world would do at the same time as to protest global warming and show support for mother earth.
To subscribe to the event in facebook : (( VOTE EARTH! JORDAN ))
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=58413632429
We did it last year. My kids loved it. It is our bedtime anyway, so that doesn’t make it very difficult. Thanks for the reminder.
Earth Hour 2008: Call to Action Jordan movement brought the city’s first Earth Hour to Amman where many jordanian residents eagerly participated with people turning off their lights between 8 and 9pm on March 29,2008.
Candlelight could be seen flickering in apartments located near the city centre, and several families throughout the city hosted Earth Hour events at private residences.
Earth Hour 2009: At 8:30 pm on the 28March millions of people around the world will use the simple action of turning off the lights for one hour to deliver a powerful message about the need for action on global warming.
Mark your calendar and join The World Wild Life Fund and our partners in the global “Earth Hour†movement by turning your lights off.
Where Will the Lights Go Off? Anyone can get involved and individuals around the world will be shutting the lights off in their homes and businesses. In addition, major participation is planned on six continents.
Jordan will also turn off lights at all public buildings and many main roads on Saturday for one hour on the occasion of the Earth Hour at the aim of increasing awareness on environment to save power and alleviate carbon emission. Electricity will be switched off in certain parts of the capital on Saturday evening for one hour in a message to the public that excessive electricity use contributes to global warming, Minister of Environment Khalid Irani told The Jordan Times on Sunday, noting that as certain street lamps and public agencies will go dark, Amman residents are requested to join the event voluntarily.
Several families and private businesses are hosting Earth Hour events at private residences, cafés and restaurants where candlight are going to be visible glowing in the dark.
As members of the WWF we are proud to have introduced the Earth Hour phenomena to Jordan!
As for Amman streets that will turn off lights:
– Rainbow Street – Jabal Amman
– Street of Culture – Shmeisani
– Omar Matar Street, opposite – Ras Al Ain
– Wasfi Al Tal Street
– Zahran Street, between the 5th and 6th circles
– The street from Jamal Abdul Nasser Square (Interior Ministry) to Zeid Ben Shaker Square (Sports City)
– Greater Amman Municipality’s main square
well,people are not well informed about whats going on thats why they see it as nonsense
i think that before we turn the lights off ,the governments should enlighten their people on how to stop this kind of pollution
balash
lets think about what we are leaving our children
maybe this wont work too coz we are selfish and our interests only concern what happens to us now ,no one thinks what will happen to the next generation when there willl be no water for instance,that’s another big problem that we should be aware of
anyway..i blogged about this as a step towards understanding it and spreading the word
but how would i send it to 7iber?
Go environment! But what about safety? Turning off streetlights on busy streets on a Saturday night sounds like a very dangerous idea. We have enough problems with traffic safety and pedestrians that cross streets, expecting cars to stop for them.
Isn’t switching the lights off dangerous? What about public safety?
We are asking people to turn off the nonessential lights for one hour – no lights that affect public safety will be turned off. We want everyone to enjoy Earth Hour in a safe and energy efficient environment. In Jordan, the Municipality decided just to turn off the street lamp in the stated streets no more.
We are also encouraging as many people to turn off the lights as possible through the use of media. However, civil action in Jordan remains a new concept.
The Call to Action Jordan movement, a collaboration of independent activists with CACC/GCC and the EDN established 2 years ago, aims to tackle the lack of public awareness to environmental issues we are facing in Jordan: educate, mobilize and inspire personal/community action.
You could check our webpage for various campaigns dedicated towards action-oriented civic movement that is essential to promote environmental education in the greater community.
http://call2actjo.ning.com/
sorry to sound all negative but this campaign is useless…the car fumes cause more polution than the electricity we use in our houses…
making people aware would be to issue fines to those who’s cars exhaust fumes are thick black, those who throw non biodgradable items into the street, those who burn tyres and trash cans… turning off the lights really wont do much nor will it educate people to why it should be done…
I agree with Sue turning off the steet light is very irresponsible and has no affect.
I am not in Jordan, but I wanted to say something. I am not sure how many people actually turned their lights off and participated, but I know that more people should have been involved.
Today at 10:25 PM Jordan time I was talking to a friend of mine on MSN, and I asked if he participated. He said he knew it was scheduled at night, he just did not know when. I told him it was already over. Judging by the amount of people in Amman who were online during Earth Hour, I am guessing not many people were aware of it. Maybe they were, they just did not care!
How did it go?