The Sanggunian Panlungsod of Naga approved and adopted last Tuesday, March 25, 2008 a resolution declaring 8:00 to 9:00 P.M. on March 29, 2008 as “Naga City (Bicol) Earth Hour”.

        The resolution was sponsored by Councilor Bernadette Florendo-Roco and duly seconded by Councilors John G. Bongat and Salvador M. del Castillo. Roco is the chair of the Environment Committee in the Sanggunian Panlungsod.

        In her privilege speech, Roco recounted that the first Earth Hour was held in Sydney, Australia between 7:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. on March 31, 2007. The initiative commenced with the World Wide Fund for Nature Australia (WWF), an environmental lobby group, and the Sydney Morning Herald, which started promoting electricity conservation to lower carbon emissions in the city. The first Earth Hour was made possible when households and businesses turned off their lights and non-essential electrical appliances for an hour on March 31, 2007.

        This communal action was a powerful demonstration that it is possible to take action --- individually and collectively – to combat global warming, Roco stated..

        Translated into figures, the one hour power outage was estimated to have cut Sydney’s main electricity consumption by between 2.1% and 10.2%. Participating in the outage were some 65,000 households or as many as 2.2 million people and 2,000 business establishments.

        Translated further, the outage saved more than 20,000 kwh of energy, enough to power 200,000 TV sets, 400,000 60-watt light bulbs. The 25,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide saved were equivalent to taking some 48,613 cars off the road.

        Said Roco: “Naga City, the Heart of Bikol, true to its pioneering character, should also stand up, be counted and implement concrete actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

        She further said that the declaration should include a call to action enjoining all barangays, households and business establishments within Naga City to participate in the Earth .

        She has suggested “lights-out events” such as: a family dine-out in the yard on candlelight; a family prayer hour lighted up by candles; candlelight dinner in restaurants and other cooked-up unique events.

        She said throughout the Philippines, Earth Hour will take place from 8 to 9 in the evening on Saturday, March 29, 2008. At the city level, the united action will be spearheaded by the local government of Naga.