Lights out: City of Cornwall once again participating in Earth Hour

The City of Cornwall is once again participating in Earth Hour, a global initiative to call attention to climate change, energy consumption, and sustainability.

This year’s Earth Hour will be marked on Saturday, March 23rd at 8:30 pm. Millions of people around the world will turn their lights off for an hour and famous landmarks around the globe will also go dark. 

Over 4,500 individuals, companies, municipalities and educational institutions in Canada have officially joined the Earth Hour movement by registering on the World 
Wildlife Fund (WWF) Canada website (www.wwf.ca/events/earthhour).

“I invite all Cornwall residents and businesses to participate in this global initiative,” said Mayor Bob Kilger. “At the City, we have been taking steps to reduce our impact on the environment. Earth Hour supports our philosophy of environmental stewardship and it shows us that by working together, we can make a difference.”

The City of Cornwall will be taking the following steps to meet Earth Hour’s objectives:

– All non-essential lighting and computer equipment in City buildings will be turned off by city employees as they leave work on Friday afternoon.
– Lighting in working city facilities, such as recreation and municipal work facilities, will be minimized as much as possible during Earth Hour itself while keeping public safety as a first priority.
– Floodlights lighting the Clock Tower in Lamoureux Park will be turned off during Earth Hour.

Participation in Earth Hour is just one small step in the City’s overall effort to reduce its impact on the environment. 

Cornwall City Council has identified the environment as a key strategic priority. To that end, the City has been working to increase its sustainability efforts through a number of projects and initiatives including:

• The installation of LED street lights, with plans to install more in the future 
• A return to a weekly, single-stream recycling collection program 
• Extended leaf and yard waste collection periods 
• Enhancements to Cornwall Transit bus routes
• The upgrade of the City’s Wastewater Treatment Plant to secondary treatment
• Enhanced procedures and training around idling for Infrastructure and Municipal Works vehicles
• Building on recommendations from the Energy Efficiency Working Group which are aimed at making the City more energy efficient