By Joshua John Pantonial/PNA
GENERAL SANTOS CITY — Sarangani province will join the rest of the world in the campaign to reduce carbon footprint through Earth Hour 2019 on Saturday.
Rolando Tuballes, chief of the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (Penro), said Friday the provincial government will lead a total power shutdown from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Tuballes said the lights-off activity, themed “Connect2Earth”, aims to help decrease global greenhouse gas emission.
Earth Hour is a global environmental movement “aimed at inspiring and empowering individuals, businesses, organizations, and governments to take tangible action for the planet.”
In support of the campaign, Tuballes said the provincial government of Sarangani created in 2002 a system dubbed, “Greenhouse Gas Inventory and Accounting”, which determines the annual percentage of the greenhouse gas emission of the provincial capitol in Alabel town.
He said the emission inventory system was “developed to combine emissions of various greenhouse gases into a single weighted value of emissions.”
Tuballes said it was done through collection of data from both stationary and mobile greenhouse gas producers at the capitol compound.
These comprise the fuel and electric consumption of all recorded official activities conducted by the provincial government, he said.
The official said they found out that the provincial capitol’s greenhouse gas emission that year was quite significant and immediately pushed for some reforms.
He said they started with the replacement of the lighting systems inside the capitol compound with solar-powered lights.
“What happened in 2012 was the very reason why we have solar-powered light posts all around the capitol and we hope that through activities, such as Earth Hour, more people would be aware and commit to take care of our planet,” he said in an interview.
Tuballes said they have coordinated with the seven municipal governments and other public and private entities to participate in Earth Hour.
He said they expect more households to join the lights-off activity on Saturday.
“The simple switching off of lights and appliances even for just one hour will have a huge impact for the benefit of our environment,” he added.
Started in 2007 by the World Wildlife Fund in Sydney, Australia, Earth Hour has eventually grown to engage more than 180 countries worldwide.
The hour-long lights-out event has become a symbol of a broader commitment towards the planet.
