Acropolis Becomes Oldest Building to Join Earth Hour

The Acropolis, a symbol of western civilization, will be the world’s oldest landmark to turn off the lights for Earth Hour and join the global movement against climate change.

At 8:30PM local time the Parthenon, the centrepiece of the Acropolis, will turn black and join an hundreds of millions people from around the globe to switch off the lights in the first global election on the future of our planet.

Located in the heart of Athens, the Parthenon was commissioned by Pericles in the middle of the 5th century BC, the height of Greek power. The result was a perfectly proportioned marble temple enclosed by 46 fluted Doric columns. This creation has long been judged the single most important building in the canon of western civilisation.

"These great sites remind us of a time when humankind made a great leap forward towards a brighter and better future,” said Earth Hour Executive Director, Andy Ridley.

“Earth Hour provides an opportunity to reconnect us to this sense of optimism and foresight as we stand at another critical juncture in human history, which is how we respond to climate change."

The Acropolis whose earliest artifacts date to the Middle Neolithic era, will be one of many Greek historical sites to switch off for Earth Hour.

“We are thrilled to see such an amazing response from Greek cities and citizens. As a part of a global community, Greece stands ready to sends its message on climate change, loud and clear.” said Demetres Karavellas CEO of WWF Greece.

This year’s Earth Hour has transformed into a public vote calling on world leaders and all people living on the planet to respect their environment and help tackle climate change.

For the first time in history, people of all ages, nationalities, race and background have the opportunity to use their light switch as their vote, whose result will be presented to leaders at the Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen 2009.

This meeting will determine official government policies to take action against global warming, which will replace the Kyoto Protocol. It is the chance for the people of the world to make their voice heard.