Anyone with a light switch has the power to "vote Earth" by participating in Earth Hour this Saturday.
Earth Hour is intended to put a temporary halt on light pollution and wasted energy by asking businesses and homes to turn off their lights and bathe the planet in what proponents think will be a replenishing darkness.
"I think a lot of people use too much electricity," said Kristin Scurlock, a junior in civil engineering. "People would be surprised how much money they'd save by turning off electricity for one hour."
This will be the first worldwide competition between Earth and global warming, and 82 countries have already committed to participate. Earth Hour was created in 2007 by World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and the first year was hosted exclusively in Sydney, Australia, where more than 50 million people participated.
"WWF created Earth Hour to create a visual mandate or a global referendum so the world can show their leaders that they want them to take action on climate change," said Meg Pearce, project director of Earth Hour U.S.
The goal of Earth Hour is to achieve one billion votes for Earth, and the results will be presented at the Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen 2009, which will be the last meeting before a new climate agreement is reached.
A majority of developed countries, with the exception of the United States, is under the Kyoto Protocol to prevent climate changes and control certain greenhouse gases, but this plan expires in 2012.
WWF and many others hope Earth Hour will make an impact on world leaders and affect the new agreement.
William Blankley, Auburn resident and astronomer, believes in the message of Earth Hour.
"For 30 years I've been involved in astronomy, and there's always been in the astronomy community an interest in keeping the pollution of lights down," Blankley said. "Any light that goes up into the sky is wasted energy. I just hope we can get as many people as possible to go along with it, and in the future look to get some better lighting standards."
There are many ways to support and prepare for Earth Hour.
Earthhour.org offers posters, stickers and other kinds of propaganda for placing around town or on Web sites to encourage support for this event.
Students and other local residents and businesses can also visit earthhourus.org to learn how they can become more environmentally aware.
Earth Hour begins at 8:30 p.m. Saturday and ends at 9:30 p.m.
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