Toronto is getting ready to celebrate Earth Hour tonight, joining in with nearly 2,850 municipalities in more than 80 countries across the world.
Earth Hour organizers say they want to see one billion people turn off their lights at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday.
The event seems to have captured the attention of the Canadian public, as Keith Stewart of World Wildlife Fund-Canada says a recent poll suggested that 80 per cent of Canadians plan to participate.
Stewart believes this year's Earth Hour is highly important given that it comes in the same year in which a successor to the Kyoto Accord will be negotiated.
Toronto resident Scott Ebenhardt told CTV he believes Earth Hour is "one of those things that it's repetition -- if we continue to do it year after year, it gets ingrained and I think that over time, it will become more than this hour, one hour a year."
In Toronto, many organizations and communities have planned their own Earth Hour activities.
Green 13 is organizing the following public events in the ward 13 community of Toronto:
- 7:45 p.m. -- Candlelight walk through High Park beginning at the High Park Nature Centre (just off of Parkside Drive and just south of Bloor)
- 8:30 p.m. -- Candlelight walk through Bloor West Village beginning at Bloor and Jane
- 8:30 p.m. -- Candlelight walk through the Junction beginning at Dundas West and Keele
- 9:30 p.m. -- Community reception at Runnymede United Church, on Runnymede Road between Annette and Bloor streets
With files from The Canadian Press and a report from CTV's Zuraidah Alman
