The Nevada State Capitol building will go dark along with the Las Vegas Strip, Niagara Falls and the Empire State Building tonight as part of a worldwide call to stop global warming.
More than 250 cities, counties and states in America and a billion people in the world are scheduled to turn off lights from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. to celebrate Earth Hour.
The event started in 2007 in Australia with about 2 million participants, according to the World Wildlife Fund, the global conservation organization sponsoring Earth Hour. The event grew to about 50 million participants around the world in 2008.
Dan Burns, a representative for Gov. Jim Gibbons, said Nevada will join other states including California, Arkansas and Pennsylvania in turning off lights shining on their capitol buildings.
"The only kind of sad part about this (event) is that it hasn't gotten more attention," he said.
Burns said he hopes Nevada residents also participate to help Earth Hour grow.
Nevada will have to lower American flags at the Capitol during the hour because they will not be lit, he said.
Carson City won't participate in the hour, but it only has a few lights on Saturday nights for fire and police anyway, said Ken Arnold, deputy public works director.
Storey County will have "very minimal" lighting on that hour as usual, said Storey County Manager Pat Whitten. The courthouse lights will be dimmed and only a few other lights will be on, he said.
"We'll be participating like we do every Saturday at 8:30 p.m.," he said.
Lyon County also will have few lights on as usual, said Lyon County Manager Dennis Stark.
Only public safety departments will be using lights, he said.
If the county did participate in Earth Hour, it would encourage residents individually to turn off lights, he said.
And while NV Energy will not participate in Earth Hour as a company, representative Karl Walquist said the company did encourage employees to participate in the event.
- Contact reporter Dave Frank at dfrank@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1212.