8A NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY'S DAILY KANSAS
MONDAY, MARCH 30, 2009
ENVIRONMENT
Times Square, Sears Tower go dark for Earth Hour event
BY RUPA SHENOY
Associated Press
CHICAGO — From an Antarctic research base and the Great Pyramids of Egypt to the Empire State Building in New York and the Sears Tower in Chicago, illuminated patches of the globe went dark Saturday for Earth Hour, a campaign to highlight the threat of climate change.
Time zone by time zone, nearly 4,000 cities and towns in 88 countries joined the event sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund to dim nonessential lights from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. The campaign began in Australia in 2007 and last year grew to 400 cities worldwide.
Organizers initially worried enthusiasm this year would wane with the world focused on the global economic crisis, said Earth Hour executive director Andy Ridley. But he said it apparently had the opposite effect.
protests, it's the idea of hope, not despair. And I think that's something that's been incredibly important this year because there is so much despair around," he said.
"Earth Hour has always been a positive campaign; it's always around street parties, not street
Crowds in Times Square watched as many of the massive billboards, including the giant Coca-Cola display, darkened. Steps away, the Majestic Theater marque at the home of "The Phantom of the Opera" went dark, along with the marquees at other Broadway shows.
Mikel Rouse, 52, a composer who lives and works nearby came to watch what he called "the center of the universe" dim its lights.
"C'mon, is it really necessary? ... All this ridiculous advertising ... all this corporate advertising taking up all that energy seems to be a waste." Rouse said.
behind him went dark.
In Chicago, one of 10 U.S. Earth Hour flagship cities, a small crowd braved a cold rain to count down as Gov. Pat Quinn flipped a 4-footall mock light switch that organizers had to brace against high winds. A second later, the buildings
"I don't see why people shouldn't always turn off the lights," pondered 15-year-old Chicagoan Tyler Oria, who was among those gathered.
More than 200 buildings pledged to go dark in the city, including shops along the Magnificent Mile.
"No matter what your individual beliefs are about climate change, energy efficiency is something everyone can understand in this economic environment," said WWF managing director Darron Collins, who helped Chicago officials organize for the night.
The Smithsonian Castle, World Bank, National Cathedral and Howard University were among several buildings that went dark for an hour in the nation's capital.
The skyline of Toronto's downtown is dimmed as many of the lights are turned off for Earth Hour on Saturday.
"This was the first year that Washington, D.C., became an official Earth Hour city," said Leslie Aum, WWF spokeswoman.
In the Chilean capital of Santiago, lights were turned off at banks, the city's communications tower and several government buildings.
including the Presidential Palace where President Michelle Bachelet hosted a dinner for U.S. Vice President Joe Biden.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The two leaders and dozens of
guests dinned at candlelight.
In Mexico City, the city government and business owners turned off all "nonessential" lights at more than 100 buildings.
in San Francisco, some of the city's best-known landmarks went dark, including Coit Tower, the TransAmerica building and the Golden Gate Bridge.
Storms cause two deaths, disaster declaration in Kansas
WEATHER
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Charles Ledbetter looks out of his garage at a snow drift that covers his neighbor's car Saturday in Hutchinson. About 18 inches of snow fell in Hutchinson from the two-day storm.
Associated Press
BY DAVID TWIDDY
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Storms spread misery Saturday from the Great Plains to the Gulf Coast, dumping spring snow that cut power to thousands of Kansas utility customers and spawning tornado warnings and heavy rain across the South.
Two deaths were reported in Kansas as a spring blizzard buried parts of the state in ice, slush and up to two feet of snow. A 72-year-old man shoveling snow died of a heart attack Saturday while waiting for an ambulance slowed by impassable roads in Arlington, in central Kansas, authorities told The Hutchinson News. On Friday, a
58-year-old woman was killed in a car accident on icy roadways in Marion County.
The system also prompted a disaster declaration in Kansas and was blamed for two traffic deaths in Oklahoma.
The National Weather Service warned eastern Iowa about a narrow band of snow that will be particularly nasty, with forecast accumulation of 4 to 6 inches.
Mixed in with the heavy snow could be thunder and lightning, a phenomenon called thundersnow, which typically produces heavy snow over a brief period.
"Snow, and lots of it," was Kyle Obert's laconic assessment of the weather conditions in Iowa City, Obert, 23, a clerk at a Casey's
General Store north of downtown,
said snow began piling up at about
4 p.m. on Saturday.
In Missouri, Kansas City International Airport was closed for more than two hours Saturday because of a mix of freezing rain and snow. Officials said they briefly closed the airport to departing and arriving flights because conditions were too slick for aircraft to operate safely.
The storm also dumped as much as two feet of snow on parts of Oklahoma.
It was blamed for two deadly accidents in central Oklahoma and dozens of other collisions in northwest Oklahoma, including one that left a truck driver critically injured.