節源抗暖化 雪梨熄燈
【韓政燕╱綜合外電報導】為響應節約能源，減緩全球暖化效應，澳洲最大城市─雪梨市當地時間昨天晚上7時30分（台灣時間下午5時30分）舉行全市熄燈儀式，持續一個小時。
六萬民眾響應
時間一到，向來璀璨明亮的雪梨歌劇院關閉燈光，橘子瓣外觀僅剩外環照明。市中心高樓大廈霓虹燈多數熄滅，僅剩街燈及港口號誌作為安全警示，全市餐廳也都改供應燭光晚餐，許多父母帶著兒女到公共場合，倒數迎接這極具環保意義的一刻。
澳洲新南威爾斯大學研究指出，雪梨民眾極度欠缺環保意識，常常在出門後，還將空調開著，到2080年時，澳洲平均溫度將比現在升高攝氏6.7度。
雪梨環保團體為減少溫室氣體排放，特別在網路上發起連署活動，呼籲民眾關閉電腦等不必要電源。此次活動共有2千商家和6萬民眾共襄盛舉，主辦單位希望明年時，雪梨市溫室氣體排放量能減少5%。
BBC News
Saturday, 31 March 2007, 10:41 GMT 11:41 UK
Lights have been turned off across Australia's largest city, Sydney, in a hour-long event aimed at raising awareness of global warming.
Sydney's famous skyline (top image) was shrouded in darknessAt 1930 (0930 GMT) the city's skyline dimmed and normally bright landmarks like the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge went dark.
The so-called Earth Hour is supported by the New South Wales government, environmental groups and businesses.
Sydney hopes the event will make a very big statement on climate change.
The city of four million people is aiming to become the first anywhere to achieve a blackout on this scale.
The BBC's Phil Mercer, in Sydney, says by and large Sydney had never been this dark.
He says lights were off in the majority of the central business district's office blocks and large parts of the suburbs were also in darkness.
Co-operation
Greg Bourne of environmental group WWF, one of the driving forces behind Earth Hour, said the big switch off took months to plan.
"The logistics is really quite amazing in the sense every tower block is owned by one company, maybe leased by another company, have 10 tenants in and a manager and working through all of these people has been fantastic."
Many restaurants signed up and planned to serve diners by candlelight.
The owner of the Newtown Hotel, which says it is Australia's oldest gay bar, told the BBC before the blackout that they would have fun while trying to send a serious message.
"Sometimes drag queens [female impersonators] do look better in the dark anyway," said Roger Zee.
"It's up to the patrons. They'll actually have their own torches so they'll be able to light up the drag queens on the stage themselves."
Organisers want to encourage Australians to conserve energy and to think carefully about what they can do to cut pollution.
Every day millions of lights and computers are left on in deserted office blocks as well as in apartments and houses.
Campaigners have said that simply switching them off could reduce Sydney's greenhouse gas emissions by 5% over the next year.
Australia is one of the world's largest per capita producers of carbon dioxide and other gases that many scientists believe are helping to warm the earth's atmosphere.
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