Earth Hour 2009 - Where Will You Be When The Lights Go Out?

With less than two weeks to go, more than 500 cities around the world have officially agreed to go dark in support of global action on climate change. On March 28, 2009 at 8:30 p.m., local time, The World Wildlife Fund is asking individuals, businesses, governments and organizations around the world to turn off their lights for one hour — Earth Hour — to make a global statement of concern about climate change and to demonstrate their commitment to finding solutions. Step inside and find out how you can become a part of this historic event…

Wherever you happen to be in the world on March 28th at 8:30 p.m., you're likely to find a city or community somewhere nearby that is making plans to turn out the lights for Earth Hour - a global goal of 1,000 cities! WWF's initiative aims to increase awareness about climate change and demonstrate that people from all over the world care about the issue. "Climate change and what we do about it is going to transform the world much more rapidly than people realize." say Richard Moss, Vice President and Managing Director for Climate Change. "It's my goal to get us moving to a world we will want, not one we'll regret leaving for our children and grandchildren."

Before you start knocking "Earth Hour" as something that just won't make a difference, take just a moment of your time and watch this…

and now, here are some highlights of what's going on around Earth Hour 2009 as we count down the days…

NASHVILLE: Earth Hour launched in Music City with a musical press conference that included live performances by Nashville superstars pledging to turn out against climate change. Read more about it here…

THE STARS AND STRIPES ARE ALIGNING: Houston, TX; Santa Rosa, CA; St Louis, MO; Sarasota, FL; Minneapolis, MN; and Valdosta, GA signed up to be part of Earth Hour 2009. They join Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, New York City and San Francisco. You say your hometown hasn't yet seen the light? Visit here for tool and tips for bringing Earth Hour to your local community.

NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WINNER ARCHBISHOP DESMOND TUTU ANNOUNCES HIS SUPPORT: "Climate change is the greatest human induced crisis facing the world today. It is totally indiscriminate of race, culture and religion. It affects every human being on the planet. Earth Hour is an opportunity for every man, woman and child from all corners of the globe to come together with a united voice and make a loud and powerful statement on the issue of climate change."

The University of Miami became the first American campus to officially sign up to turn off, but was quickly joined by Michigan State, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, University of Virginia, Belmont, Columbia, Ohio University, Howard University, Georgia Tech, Northwestern, Spellman, University of Missouri, St. Louis and Vanderbilt. Don't see your alma mater on the list? It's not too late! Tell your campus to turn out and take action. Check out the campus toolkit here!

I GOT THE POWER: 10,000 college students from across the nation will converge on Washington DC on February 27–March 2 for Power Shift '09, asking for "bold, comprehensive and immediate federal climate action." Earth Hour Project Director Meg Pearce and Campus Organizer Sophie Latham will be there holding a special session on how to be part of Earth Hour 2009, the largest global climate event in history.

CITY OF LIGHTS TO TURN LIGHTS OFF IN SUPPORT OF WWF'S EARTH HOUR 2009: Paris—known as the City of Lights—will lead a list of 28 cities and towns across France that have committed to join the world in making a visual vote for decisive action on climate change by turning off their lights for one hour during Earth Hour 2009 on March 28th.

LAS VEGAS FLICKS THE SWITCH FOR EARTH HOUR 2009: Officials from World Wildlife Fund joined Clark County, Nevada Commissioner Lawrence Weekly, City of Las Vegas Mayor Oscar B. Goodman and City of Henderson Mayor James B. Gibson at the iconic "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign to officially kick off the Las Vegas Valley's participation in Earth Hour–a global event calling for action on climate change.

For now? Be sure to visit the Earth Hour website, where you can sign up to show your support and find all kinds of wonderful tools and ideas on how to motivate your community, school, family and friends to pledge just one hour of their time to darkness and become part of this global event.

Don't forget to mark your calendar…Earth Hour is March 28, 2009, at 8:30 pm. Be there with us when the lights go out…

Where's all the ice and snow going?

Ice melting across globe at accelerating rate, NASA says

Between 1.5 trillion and 2 trillion tons of ice in Greenland, Antarctica and Alaska have melted at an accelerating rate since 2003, according to NASA scientists, in the latest signs of what they say is global warming.

Using new satellite technology that measures changes in mass in mountain glaciers and ice sheets, NASA geophysicist Scott Luthcke concluded that the losses amounted to enough water to fill the Chesapeake Bay 21 times.

"The ice tells us in a very real way how the climate is changing," said Luthcke, who will present his findings this week at the American Geophysical Union conference in San Francisco, California.

NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment, or GRACE, mission uses two orbiting satellites to measure the "mass balance" of a glacier, or the net annual difference between ice accumulation and ice loss.

"A few degrees of change [in temperature] can increase the amount of mass loss, and that contributes to sea level rise and changes in ocean current," Luthcke said.

The data reflects findings from NASA colleague Jay Zwally, who uses different satellite technology to observe changing ice volume in Greenland, the Arctic and Antarctica.

In the past five years, Greenland has lost between 150 gigatons and 160 gigatons each year, (one gigaton equals one billion tons) or enough to raise global sea levels about .5 mm per year, said Zwally, who will also present his findings at the conference this week.

GRACE measured that mountain glaciers in the Gulf of Alaska lost about 84 gigatons each year, about five times the average annual flow of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, according to NASA.

"Every few extra inches of sea level have very significant economic impacts, because they change the sea level, increase flooding and storm damage," said, Zwally, ICESat Project Scientist. "It's a warning sign."

Melting ice, especially in Greenland and the Arctic, is also thought to contribute to global warming, Zwally said. When the vast ice sheets and glaciers melt, they lose their reflective power, and instead, oceans and land absorb the heat, causing the Arctic waters and the atmosphere to warm faster.

"We're seeing the impacts of global warming in many areas of our own lives, like agriculture," Zwally said.

As an example, he cited the pine beetle infestation of this summer in the forests of Colorado and western Canada.

"They were believed to be spreading because the winter was not cold enough to kill them, and that's destroying forests," he said.

In the 1990s, Greenland took in as much snow and water as it let out, Zwally said. But now, about 15 years later, sea levels are rising about 50 percent faster, making the global climate situation even more unpredictable.

"The best estimates are that sea levels will rise about 18 to 36 inches by the end of the century, but because of what's going on and how fast things are changing, there's a lot of uncertainty," he said.