Las Vegas is a city of lights that is always beaming. On Earth Hour 2009, they decided to participate and conserve energy for that one specific hour.
Visitors to the city were amazed at seeing the city without lights. “It was odd to see it dark,” Rob Kilo said. “The whole concept as a visitor is seeing the lights. … Here everything is lights.”
Earth Hour is a very important event especially in this day and age when people are concerned about the Earth and the platform for “Going Green.”
“Earth Hour is about what you do at home, it’s about those small changes you can make. It is making sure your lights are turned off, making sure the power strip to your computer goes down,” said Las Vegas resident Corrine Hall. “It’s just small things, it’s taking five minutes to change something small.”
People around the world are noticing the importance of conserving energy and are making a more concerted effort to keep it that way.
“I use the CFL light bulbs, turning TVs and lights off when we’re not in the room, we unplug all of our appliances when we aren’t using them, phone chargers, and everything like that because those use energy even if they’re not turned on,” said Tommi Willingham, a UNLV student.
The crowds in the city of Las Vegas were filled with “oohs” and “Ahhs” as the lights began to turn off all the way down the strip, ending with the fading of the beam of light at the luxor, which can be seen from outer space.
“One of the fascinating things about the Springs Preserve is the fact that they’re using solar power outside here in the parking lot and a town like this it seems ridiculous that we don’t,” said Earth Hour viewer Dale Gilbert.
“This is something that is going to have to happen. It’s not even at a point whether or not it will — it’s going to happen one way or another,” stated Gilbert.
