Mqondisi Dube
26 March 2009
Selebi-Phikwe — BCL employees are expected to heed the call to switch off their lights for an hour this Friday under the global 'Earth Hour' initiative meant to support efforts to combat global warming.
Most buildings around the world will go dark for one hour on Friday March 27 in support of the Earth Hour, a climate change initiative of the United Nations.
BCL public relations and communications superintendent, Tiro Kganela, said all BCL employees are encouraged to turn off their lights for an hour to demonstrate support for the Earth Hour initiative.
"To support the global Earth Hour campaign and to show that BCL is also involved with the climate change initiatives as well as reducing its carbon footprint, employees are invited for a voluntary 'Big Switch Off' at their homes on this day," Kganela said.
He said BCL general manager, Montwedi Mphathi, has endorsed the 'Big Switch Off' initiative as an innovative energy saving measure by mine employees.
Kganela said it is crucial for BCL, which is the largest single consumer of electricity in the country, to support the campaign.
He added that by switching off their lights for an hour, BCL employees would be playing their part in energy use reduction. BCL consumes about 18 percent of Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) electricity.
"This is our support for the Earth Hour campaign as part of our information, education and public awareness to reduce costs for the Company as we are the biggest consumer of electricity in Botswana," Kganela said.
Most local companies with institutional housing have committed to participating with the hope that more towns in the country will come on board.
Across the globe more than 37 national capitals and some of the great cities of the world including, Johannesburg, Cape Town, London, Beijing, Rome, Los Angeles, Sydney and Rio de Janeiro, will be dark when millions of residents switch off their lights at 8.30pm on March 28.
Some of the most famous landmarks on earth will also go dark for an hour, including the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Merlion in Singapore, the Sydney Opera House and the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.
The Earth Hour campaign is a show of support for action on climate change and, more specifically, for a fair, effective and science-based global deal to be negotiated by world leaders at the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference at the end of this year.
Earth Hour, an annual international event began in Sydney, Australia in 2007 when two million people switched off their lights for one hour.
A year later, more than 50 million people across the globe took part on the night of March 29 2008. This year, more than 538 cities and towns in 75 countries have committed to Earth Hour.
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