Porter County and the City of Valparaiso to Dim the Lights and Lend Support for Earth Hour

Porter County Commissioners and the City of Valparaiso announced today that they will turn off the flood lights around the County Courthouse as well as all downtown tree lights for Earth Hour, and encourage their residents to do the same. earth-hour

Earth Hour, which takes place Saturday, March 27th at 8:30 p.m. local time, is an event in which millions of Americans will turn out their lights for one hour in support of action on climate change and toward creating a cleaner, safer and more secure future. 2010 marks the third year of the event, which attracted more than 80 million participants in the U.S. last year, and nearly a billion people around the world, as lights dimmed on such global icons as the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Sydney’s Opera House, the Great Pyramids of Gaza and New York’s Empire State Building.

In addition to the lights being turned out, local restaurants will again be participating by Dining by Candlelight. Pikks Tavern, Paparazzi, Bon Femme, Bistro 157, Maria Elena’s and Don Quijote will turn the lights out at 8:30, and as an added bonus, will hand out free CFL light bulbs to the first 100 customers, compliments of the City of Valparaiso.

The city’s V-Line bus system will also participate by handing out free CFL light bulbs to each rider on March 27. The limit is one bulb per rider, and the bulbs are being donated by the City of Valparaiso.

Notable U.S. landmarks such as Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, St. Louis’ Gateway Arch, Sea World in Orlando, the strip in Las Vegas, New York’s Empire State Building, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Washington D.C.’s National Cathedral, California’s Santa Monica Pier and the Space Needle in Seattle are among the hundreds of sites that will turn off non-essential lighting for the hour, in what is expected to be the largest-ever call to action on climate change.

Contact Jeff Lewis for any questions regarding the event. 219-405-7445

The event is being coordinated by the Valparaiso Environmental Stewardship Council.

Kids can get involved too. Click here to find out how.