By IANS
Chennai : Sify Technologies Ltd, a city-based internet and enterprise services major, is lobbying businesses, communities and individuals to turn off the lights for one hour at 8 p.m. March 29 as part of its support to the Earth Hour initiative.
The Earth Hour is a World Wide Fund (WWF) initiative, supported by businesses and individuals around the world, to promote electricity conservation and lower carbon emissions.
The Earth Hour 2007 was marked in the Australian city of Sydney on March 31, 2007, when 2.2 million people and 2,100 Sydney businesses turned off their lights for one hour.
This collective effort reduced Sydney’s energy consumption by 10.2 percent for one hour, which was the equivalent of taking 48,000 cars off the road for a year.
Inspired by Sydney’s example, Earth Hour 2008 has become a global movement.
Sify is mounting the Earth Hour campaign in four cities – New Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai.
“The objective of the campaign is to encourage as many individuals, households and businesses as possible to turn off their lights as a symbolic statement against global warming”, Raju Vegesna, CEO and managing director of Sify, said.
The company also has a radio campaign, an email campaign and a video campaign, besides supporting related events like street plays in schools.