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TORONTO — The coastal hamlet of Hartley Bay, B.C., has plenty of reasons to embrace Earth Hour.
All year long, 24 hours a day, a diesel generator powers the tiny First Nations community of 60 or so homes located 630 kilometres north of Vancouver. The diesel alone costs more than $500,000 per year, about ten times more per capita than average electricity costs in B.C.
There's also a steep environmental cost. A transfer leak spilled 15,000 litres of fuel along the shoreline in December.
So when Hartley Bay celebrates Earth Hour this weekend, it's more than a symbolic gesture – it's a trial run at a future without diesel.
• Twenty major cities from Bangkok to Dubai have officially pledged to turn out their lights from 8 to 9 p.m. local time on Saturday to promote energy conservation. More than 125 cities, towns and villages across Canada have also committed to the power-down. Landmarks including the CN Tower, Niagara Falls and Vancouver's Lions Gate Bridge are set to go dark.
• To date, more than 230,000 people worldwide have signed up online to participate, including more than 55,000 Canadians. Thousands of businesses across the country have also registered to participate.
• The World Wildlife Fund launched the idea of Earth Hour March 31, 2007 when 2.2 million people and 2,100 businesses in Sydney, Australia, turned off their lights for one hour. Energy use in the city decreased by 10.2 per cent for the hour, a reduction equivalent to taking 48,616 cars off the road if it were sustained for a whole year.
Source: World Wildlife Fund
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While cities around the world shut down nonessential lights at 8 p.m. Saturday, Hartley Bay's Gitga'at community will go one step further by going completely dark as they power down the generator.
“We are one of the last remote communities run solely by diesel generator,” said Cameron Hill, a band council member and lifelong resident. “But we wanted to do this to show how committed we are to preserving our earth.”
Mr. Hill said the village's 170 residents plan on gathering around the fire pit at the community's longhouse on Saturday night to mark the occasion with a potluck meal.
It's places like Hartley Bay that organizer World Wildlife Fund says exemplifies the spirit of Earth Hour, a climate change initiative aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Earth Hour began last year in Sydney, Australia, where more than two million people and 2,000-plus businesses shut off their lights for an hour in a campaign that highlights the simple measures people can take to cut emissions, such as regularly switching off lights and powering down computers.
Energy use in the city decreased by 10.2 per cent for the hour, a reduction equivalent to taking 48,616 cars off the road if it were sustained for a whole year, the WWF said.
This year, the event is global. In Canada, more than 55,000 Canadians and 150 cities and towns have signed up to participate and will shut off their lights at 8 p.m. local time.
Toronto, the event's flagship Canadian city for 2008, will host a free concert by pop star Nelly Furtado, while the city shuts off lights at key landmarks, including the CN Tower and City Hall.
But WWF spokeswoman Melissa Tupper said countless other community groups are finding their own ways to celebrate.
“The event has really grown into a grassroots push,” she said.
In Plaster Rock, N.B., (pop. 1,710) Brenda Bucci's Beaver Scouts are holding an Earth Hour sleepover at the town's community centre.
Ms. Bucci said the boys in her troop, aged five to seven, will crack neon glow sticks when the lights go out.
“As they fade away, we'll know the hour is up,” she said.
In Halifax, diners at Stories Restaurant will raise their glasses in semi-darkness on Saturday night. The restaurant will turn out its lights for a completely candlelit dining experience.
Residents of Woodbridge, Ont., have planned a lantern walk, and the town of Prince Rupert, B.C., will hold a free acoustic concert. Yellowknife's city council has also endorsed Earth Hour, but there won't be a dramatic lights-out moment: it will be daylight in the city at 8 p.m.
Back in Hartley Bay, Mr. Hill said he's hoping his village's participation will make a statement.
“To show how committed we are to get rid of the diesel generator [and] to get something greener like a hydro station, why not shut the generator down for an hour?”
Mr. Hill said the band has raised $1-million of the $8-million it needs to replace the generator with a hydroelectric plant. Until hydro power comes to Hartley Bay, the band is encouraging villagers to conserve energy with quick fixes like wrapping geothermal blankets around water heaters.
Mr. Hill said villagers will be enjoying an hour of peace and quiet on Saturday without the drone of the generator.
“We'll be sitting around for that hour and enjoying each other's fellowship,” he said.
“I think I'm going to kipper some salmon and bring it along.”
Video: Earth Hour 2007, Sydney
