This is an old MSNBC footage about the celebration of Earth hour in 2008 round the world, but the content is even more valid because as time has gone by, more and more cities have taken part in this initiative, which was held on 23 March this year.
Self-study activity:
Watch the news clip and say whether the statements below are true or false. The activity is suitable for Intermediate students.
1 The first Earth hour is being held this year.
2 From eight to nine million switches will be turned off this year.
3 The Earth hour doesn’t really save energy.
4 400 buildings will go dark in Atlanta’s city centre.
5 Atlanta is suffering a drought.
This is the Earth Hour official video for 2013.
On the Earth Hour site you will also be able to find lots of environment-related initiatives, videos and ideas.
And this is the number playing in the background, David Guetta 'Without you', in case you're wondering.
Tonight our series Our Planet, and some well-known skylines and landmarks around the world that are going dark. We get the story from NBC’s Ron Moore.
Bright lights, big city. The two go hand in hand except for a brief spell tonight when darkness falls in more ways than one as it did in Sydney Australia. From Down under to Thailand, to Chicago, Phoenix and San Francisco non-essential lights are being turned off for Earth hour.
Turning off a switch is just one step that we hope will lead individuals, and governments, and businesses to make much bigger commitments to reduce energy the rest of the year.
The first Earth hour last spring involved one city, Sidney, and drew an estimated 2 million participants. Today, hundreds of cities and ten million people around the globe are expected to flip the switch between 8 and 9, saving between 5 and 10 per cent of a typical Saturday night energy usage.
Doing one little thing we can do something really big.
In Atlanta, a fast moving fast growing metroplex with big energy needs they´re fired up about 400 downtown buildings going dark, a feat easier said than done, even for the man who lit the town for the world during the 96 Olympics.
In some cases it’s very simple on the computer in order cases you actually got to go and manually turn switches off in order to turn the lights off.
We are worse off this year than we were last year.
Conservation is conversation for the mayor here whose city is battling a record drought.
Atlanta is really excited about being a part of the greening of America. And this way we think it is an opportunity for us to demonstrate that every person can make a contribution.
So what do you do for an hour in the dark? Well organizers say ¨use your imagination¨. Light some candles and enjoy a romantic dinner, open a magazine or a book, maybe even play a board game or go all out and tell one another stories. Whatever you do, officials hope you do it with gusto and fewer watts.
Key: 1F 2F 3F 4T 5T
