Environmentalists: "Turn everything off!" on February 1st

January 28, 2007



"L’Alliance pour la Planète", a collective of French environmental organizations (such as WWF France), has launched a campaign to promote awareness on climate change. Under the theme Turn everything off!, they're asking people to turn off their electricity for five minutes on February 1st, between 7:55pm and 8:00pm CET. With the initiative, they hope to remind others, the media and politicians (such as the candidates for the upcoming French Presidential elections) of the ongoing waste of energy. Everyone should turn off the light, as well as all electrical appliances -maybe a good moment for a candlelight dinner, they suggest.

The "five minutes of silence" are believed to put pressure on world governments to discuss the topic more seriously on an international scale. Since the first call various similar international groups have stated their support and currently promote the idea on their websites and newsletters.

The date was originally chosen to match the release of the United Nations fourth climate change report, in which 2,500 scientists from more than 130 countries present their latest findings. The report however has been delayed and will now be released on February 2nd.

In Belgium, non-profit organizations such as Oxfam support the action. The consortium is working with the power distribution company to prevent any negative impact a sudden drop of energy demand might have on the electricity network.