Earth Hour: Verdun turns off its lights

Once again joining the growing movement of global solidarity, the Verdun Borough has agreed to follow suit and actively take part, on Saturday, March 27, in Earth Hour 2010.

Borough Mayor Claude Trudel, assisted in environmental matters by Borough Councillor Paul Beaupré, is encouraging residents from the three neighbourhoods in Verdun to take concrete action by turning off the lights in their homes, their commercial establishments or their companies, 8:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m., on Saturday, March 27.

Coordinated by the World Wide Fund for Nature, Earth Hour is a global event whose objective is to show solidarity for people, through concrete actions to fight climate change, and global warming in particular.

This initiative began in Sydney, Australia, in March 2007, when over 2.2 million people and nearly 2100 various types of businesses in this major city turned out their lights, in a symbolic gesture, for one full hour. This movement quickly gained ground, and in 2009, hundreds of millions of people turned off their lights for an hour to show their support for the fight against climate change. The Verdun Borough is proud to join the ranks of this vast movement

on March 27. "This gesture bears witness to our will to thwart the adverse effects of greenhouse gases and thereby improve our quality of life and that of future generations," stated Mayor Claude Trudel. This movement is moreover fully in keeping with Ville de Montréal's strategic sustainable development plan, one of whose objectives is to cut down on emissions by 20% between now and 2012. It should be noted that the initiative that Sydney took, back in 2007, made it possible to cut down on the City's energy consumption by 10.2% during that 60-minute period. "It's as if nearly 50,000 vehicles had been removed from the roads for a similar period of time," pointed out Mayor Trudel. "In order to set an example and inspire our residents, all of the Borough's administrative buildings will follow suit and be in total darkness during Earth Hour," confirmed Paul Beaupré, who also chairs the environment committee. He nevertheless pointed out that the facilities where cultural, sports or recreational activities have already been planned on their program will understandably not be able to take part in this initiative.