MAYOR HANNEMANN ANNOUNCES

‘HONOLULU CITY LIGHTS OUT’ ON SATURDAY

Mayor Mufi Hannemann announced that Honolulu is once again an official participating city in the World Wildlife Fund’s Earth Hour 2009.

“It’s a simple display of concern for the environment and for the conservation of energy,” said Mayor Hannemann. “We ask everyone to turn off lights and other unnecessary electrical devices for one hour this Saturday, at 8:30 p.m.”

Locally dubbed “Honolulu City Lights Out,” this is the second year that the city has participated and encouraged others to join the event.

“We are joining together with over 2,700 cities in 83 different countries to recognize the importance of energy conservation and it’s relation to climate protection” said the Mayor. “This is very compatible with the goals of our own 21^st Century Ahupua’a program that is designed to encourage sustainable practices throughout O’ahu.”

During Earth Hour 2008, more than 50 million people in over 1,000 cities on all seven continents turned off their lights as major icons also went dark, including the Sydney Opera House, the Coliseum in Rome, Stockholm’s Royal Castle, New York’s Empire State Building and The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Google turned its homepage black for an entire day in tribute.

More information, including an opportunity to register your participation and support, can be found online at: www.earthhourus.org

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Contact: Keith Rollman, 768-7658