Greens Senators Milne, Brown, Siewert and Nettle have jointly written to Senate President, Senator Paul Calvert, and Speaker of the House, Hon. David Hawker, encouraging them to take an active role in Earth Hour, on behalf of the Australian Parliament and to set a national lead on climate change and order the lights to be switched off on Capitol Hill for Earth Hour between 7.30 – 8.30 pm last Saturday night. The Victorian Greens have written to the President and Speaker of the Victorian Parliament.

Australian Greens climate change spokesperson, Senator Christine Milne, said “Taking decisive action on climate change is what is needed and switching off lights to support this Earth Hour initiative is a symbolic step in the right direction. I encourage people everywhere to use the hour to think about the long term change they might make to lead more energy efficient lives.”

NSW Greens MLC Ian Cohen said “This is a great initiative which allows people to be involved in a mass symbolic gesture to show that action can be taken in response to climate change. While one hour may seem like a small step, it is important for people to act together to combat a feeling of helplessness about the enormity of climate change.”

Victorian Greens MLC, Sue Pennicuik said “Many people in the community are already reducing their energy consumption and have been doing so for years. Actions like Earth Hour are a great way of joining people together in a common effort. The warnings of the impact of dangerous climate change for Australia from the expert Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change show us just how urgent it is for us to act now to curb greenhouse pollution. There is so much more we can do in terms of energy efficiency and renewable energy, which will benefit our lives and our economy,”