The world unites at the flick of a switch!

4.32.47pm UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 31st Jan 2007

Sharon Bowles, LibDem MEP for the South East is pledging her support for a worldwide event highlighting climate change. On Thursday 1st February at 6.55p.m. (GMT) millions of people across the globe will switch off their lights, computers, televisions and other appliances to observe a five minute silence. The aim of the event is to raise awareness among our neighbours, politicians and the media about the energy wasted daily - ahead of publication of the U.N.'s latest report on Climate Change the next day. The Mayor of Paris has even agreed to switch off the Eiffel Tower's lights!

Sharon says, "An idea which started as a French initiative by an environmental group, Alliance for the Planet, has, with the help of the Internet, spread across the world in a matter of days. It has quickly become a truly international endeavour to which I lend my full support. On Thursday, I will switch off all the lights in my house for five minutes and urge others to do the same. It costs nothing but will show the world's leaders that we are serious about Climate Change."

ENDS

NOTE:

Alliance for the Planet's website can be found at www.lalliance.fr (in French). Members include WWF, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth.