“As Minister of Environment, Energy and Forestry I am calling on Islanders to send a united message about the need for action on climate change,” Minister Brown said. “This Saturday join millions of Canadians and millions of others around the world, by being part of Earth Hour and turn off your lights for one hour beginning at 8:30 p.m.,” he added.

Earth Hour is a worldwide annual event organized by the World Wildlife Fund. It began in 2007 in Sydney, Australia, when more than 2 million homes and businesses switched off their lights for one hour to draw attention to the challenges facing the world because of climate change.

Last year over 10 million Canadians participated in Earth Hour.

This year’s event theme is an election between Earth and global warming. Turning off the lights is a vote for Earth, and leaving them on is a vote for global warming. The goal is to get 1 billion votes for Earth. This achievement will be presented to world leaders at the Global Climate Change Conference in Denmark later this year.

“Turning off the lights for an hour might seem like a very small step but, together, we can send the message that we are going to fight climate change and reduce our carbon footprint,” Minster Brown said.

To view the provincial Climate Change Strategy, visit www.gov.pe.ca/photos/original/env_globalstr.pdf

For more information regarding Earth Hour, visit www.wwf.ca/earthhour