13 million in China's Chengdu to take part in Earth Hour

WWF’s Earth Hour officially kicked off in China on February 1 with a major show of support from Chengdu, the first city in the country to commit to turning off its lights.

Chengdu's Giant Panda Mei Lan (c) WANG Xiao/Chengdu Economic Daily

“We are extremely proud that Chengdu can be a part of Earth Hour and join so many cities around the world to support climate action on March 27th. Chengdu’s official announcement is a demonstration of the city’s vision to develop a low-carbon economy and build a world-class garden city of tomorrow to create harmony between man and nature. This is highly in line with Earth Hour’s overall goal,” said Mr. Ye Lang, spokesperson for the Chengdu municipal government.
“Chengdu will lead its 13 million citizens to take part in Earth Hour, and we sincerely hope this global climate initiative will lead people around the world to adopt a low-carbon lifestyle!”

Chengdu is the hometown to the world’s treasure - the Giant Panda, an ancient species that has been living in Chengdu for more than 8 million years and is the symbol of WWF. The Chengdu government has also agreed for the Giant Panda to become an official WWF Earth Hour Ambassador.

Now in its fourth year, Earth Hour is a global climate initiative led by the World Wide Fund for Nature. This year, Earth Hour is celebrated on Saturday, March 27 8:30-9:30pm.

: Chinese Actress and WWF Earth Hour Global Ambassador Bingbing Li in a local advertising campaign

“With Chengdu being the first city in China to signed on to Earth Hour 2010 and the Giant Panda as our latest ambassador, this is a great start to our in campaign. We are looking forward to many more cities across China joining us!” says WWF China Country Representative Dermot O’Gorman. “Earth Hour 2010 will continue to raise the public’s awareness of climate change, but we’re also focused on giving people concrete actions they can take to save energy and live a more low-carbon lifestyle.”

Along with calling on individuals, businesses, communities and governments to turn off their lights for one hour, WWF will launch a mainland China Carbon Calculator and hold a Low Carbon Lifestyle Week from Monday to Friday in the lead up week to Earth Hour. One simple energy-saving action will be promoted each day related to the home, office, transportation, shopping and energy use.

A new Earth Hour ad campaign featuring actress and WWF Earth Hour Global Ambassador Bingbing Li can be seen around China starting in February. Chinese rock legend and musician Cui Jian will also be joining WWF as an Earth Hour China Ambassador.