Windsor celebrates the 2018 Earth Hour by shutting off the lights

The lights went out last weekend.

The City of Windsor held an Earth Hour event on March 24 at Charles Clark Square, as all non-essential lights in the downtown area were turned off for one hour starting at 8:30 p.m.

Caesars Windsor, which was also involved, shut off the lights on the exterior of its building during the Earth Hour too.

Kelly Laforest, health, safety and environmental specialist with Caesars, said they are trying to bring the awareness to the community.

“We are celebrating Earth Hour. We try to bring attention to the global issues we are having with the environment. We ask everyone to turn off the power, we want to try to get as many people to do that as possible.”

Earth Hour is a worldwide movement organized by the World Wide Fund for Nature. It started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia and became a worldwide movement to encourage individuals, communities and business to turn off the lights for one hour at the end of March.

Windsor’s event included a lot of booths to highlight such things as biking and electric vehicles.

Michael Schneider is the owner of an electric vehicle and a member of Windsor Essex Electric Vehicles Association.

“(The association) decided to participate just from the point of the electric transportation. Because it kinds fit in with the saving energy and saving the environment, having a conscious decision made about that,” said Schneider.

The City of Windsor has been part of Earth Hour since 2009 to highlight the importance of saving energy for the earth.

Kelsey Williams, the environmental and sustainability coordinator with the City of Windsor, said it is a great movement to bring awareness to people.

“There are things we can do as people, as individuals … to make this world a little bit better. Having Earth Hour provides this place you can go, chat with people about the environment and find out what you can do and why it is important.”

Williams also said they want people to learn more about the environment.

“We can focus on the good and this step to move forward to help the environment be healthier, because ultimately we rely on it so much and we need to take care of it.”

The City of Windsor also will be participant in the next Earth Hour on March 30, 2019.