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Lights out for climate change

A climate change conference in Gateshead this weekend will end with the switching off of one of Tyneside’s most recognisable landmarks.

The Millenium Bridge will be switched off at 8.30pm on Saturday to mark Earth Hour, an international event which aims to raise awareness of the challenges of climate change. Young people from Gateshead will then take up positions on the darkened bridge and use wind-up torches to illuminate the crossing.

Other buildings on Gateshead Quays are also set to switch off their lights, including the Hilton Hotel, The Sage Gateshead and BALTIC.

The conference has been organized by the Gateshead Youth Assembly, and aims to find out what young people in Gateshead can contribute to the town’s climate change efforts.

Councillor Michael McNestry, Cabinet member for the Environment, said: “It’s fitting that we should be holding this conference on the very day that the whole world will be thinking, and acting, on climate change. I’m delighted that Gateshead, by switching off the lights on the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, will have the chance to send its own message to world leaders.”

As part of the Earth Hour event, Newcastle City Council will be switching off the blue floodlights at the Civic Centre, along with lights on the Tyne Bridge, the High Level Bridge, and those at the City Library.

Other landmarks across the world will also be dimmed, including Nelson’s Column, the Forth Bridge, the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, the Eiffel Tower, Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, Table Mountain in Cape Town and Sydney Opera House.

For more about Earth Hour, go to www.earthhour.org.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .