Lights out in Bangkok for "Earth Hour"

The Bangkok Metropolitan Authority (BMA) met with representatives from 40 government and private sector organisations on February 15 to encourage businesses and households to turn off their lights and electrical appliances for an hour to raise awareness about carbon emissions, the main cause of global warming.

 The Metropolitan Electricity Authority has agreed to help calculate how much energy was saved during the lights-off exercise.

 Street lights along Silom, Yawaraj, Khao Sarn and Rama IV roads in the capital will also be turned off to mark the global campaign, first observed in Sydney last year.

 "Last year we were incredibly excited that more than two million people in Sydney took part in Earth Hour," said Andy Ridley, executive director of WWF's Earth Hour campaign. 

   "If we see the same participation levels around the globe that we did in Sydney, then we can anticipate more than 30 million people involved," said Ridley.

 Besides Bangkok, other cities that have pledged to join the campaign include Atlanta, San Francisco, Phoenix, Vancouver, Montreal, Dublin, Sydney, Perth, Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane, Adelaide, Copenhagen, Aarhus, Aalborg, Odense, Manila, Suva, Chicago, Tel Aviv, Toronto and Christchurch, said the WWF in a statement issued in Bangkok.//dpa