2016/03/21
Ministry of National Defense Implements One Hour “Lights Out” Activity to Show Support for International Environmental Protection Campaign (March 21st 2016)
(Military News Agency reporter, Chen Ying-Zhu, Taipei, March 19th) In order to show support for the energy conservation campaign, “Earth Hour”, initiated by the Society of Wilderness, the Ministry of National Defense will be “voluntarily” turning off the lights for an hour tonight in the hopes that the practical action will cultivate the concepts of carbon reduction and environmental protection in the officers and soldiers.
To participate in this environmental protection campaign, the Bo-Ai Military Camp of the Ministry of National Defense will be turning off all illumination of the camp perimeter walls, outdoor lighting, external building walls, and indoor lighting from 20:30 to 21:30 tonight, leaving only the necessary illumination for guard posts and underground car parks, to stress the importance of environmental protection.
The Ministry of National Defense expressed that to maintain in line with the national energy and environmental protection policies, in future the Ministry will continue to promote the four conservation policies. In addition to requiring energy conservation in different departments and as a whole, ensuring the continued tracking of water consumption and conformation to stipulated objectives, analysis for reasons of unachieved targets, and stipulation of improvement policies, the Ministry will also continue to strengthen the promotion of the “a simple effort of lifting a hand” to cultivate good water and energy saving habits, as well as implement a section responsibility system where a dedicated personnel is placed in charge of the energy consumption in each section. Under the dual effects of both “personnel” and “resource” management, the Ministry will be able to enhance the success of the energy conservation of the military.
The Earth Hour campaign is first initiated by the Australian office of WWF in 2007 as a global campaign against climate change. By 2009, the campaign had been promoted to 88 countries and had over 4000 cities participating while many of the world famous landmarks, such as Sydney Harbor Bridge, CN Tower (Toronto), Golden Gate Bridge (San Francisco), and the Coliseum (Rome) had chosen the same day to implement the “Lights Out” activity at 8:30 pm (local time), in time zone sequence.