LITTLE ROCK – The City of Little Rock is encouraging residents and businesses to join millions world-wide to raise awareness about climate change by switching off non-essential lighting for Earth Hour – Saturday March 29, 2014 at 8:30 p.m. local time. Little Rock is one of more than 7,000 cities and towns around the world expected to take part in the world’s largest voluntary environmental action.

“As good stewards of the environment, we encourage Little Rock residents, businesses and organizations to participate in Earth Hour this Saturday by turning off all non-essential lights,” said Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola. “The City has made significant efforts to reduce energy usage and save money through innovative actions such as retrofitting most City buildings with motion-activated light switches. With these switches in place, the City of Little Rock will be participating in Earth Hour in a substantial way.”

“Earth Hour continues to take the world by storm and we’re elated to see Little Rock joining in to promote awareness of climate change,” said Keya Chatterjee, director of renewable energy and footprint outreach at World Wildlife Fund (WWF). “In that spirit, we’re encouraging everyone to go beyond the hour and find out how you can power more of your life with clean, renewable energy, whether through rooftop solar or city-wide clean energy agreements with providers.”

Little Rock and much of Arkansas has felt the impacts of climate change through extreme weather events in recent years like floods, droughts, heat waves and prolonged winter weather. As a result, Little Rock has taken practical steps to reduce our carbon footprint, including energy efficiency improvements like the motion-activated light switches; LED traffic and cross signals; and heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) upgrades among many others.

Little Rock’s participation in Earth Hour is a reminder that the City is serious about leading by example when it comes to sustainability.

About Earth Hour