For all its connectivity to downtown, how is it that Syracuse University blew the exam on global warming? Last evening, people in great cities large and small throughout the world participated in Earth Hour. We decided to do the same, turned off all our lights and headed downtown, expecting to see people walking in the balmy evening, enjoying the 60-minute relief from light pollution, maybe even talking to each other in candle-lit bars and restaurants.
But no. Except for two appropriately darkened buildings, City Hall and City Hall Commons, life went on as usual in our basically empty downtown. While even the birds and the bees know that change on a massive scale is taking place, Syracuse University’s Warehouse building was ablaze with light.
We expect more leadership than this of such a great institution. If City Hall got it, why not S.U.? In our house, when I comment to my husband about a particularly bone-headed answer on some test I’m correcting (never using names, of course!), he invariably yells, “F-plus!” You can guess what we yelled in unison when we saw that building lit up like a Christmas tree… just like the National Grid building.
I’m sure if the University of Sydney can figure it out, S.U. can, too. We’ll be looking forward to a darker night this time next year!
2008 Earth Hour at the University of Sydney
Before:
During Earth Hour:
earth hour really helps promote awareness on how to conserve energy .:’