The City of Reno will join millions of people around the world in a bold statement showing concern for our planet. Will you join too?

On Saturday, March 27 the historic Reno Arch along with Reno City Hall and other city buildings will go dark for one hour in recognition of Earth Hour. The symbolic event is from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. (local time). Along with the darkening of the Reno Arch, downtown businesses have also been asked to join in this effort by turning off exterior or non-essential lights.

Sponsored by World Wildlife Fund, Earth Hour is the largest event of its kind in the world. According to World Wildlife Fund, in 2009, nearly one billion people from 4,100 cities in 87 countries turned off their lights, as well as international landmarks including the Golden Gate Bridge, Empire State Building, Eiffel Tower, Great Pyramids, and the city skylines of Las Vegas, Hong Kong, and Tel Aviv. The goal of Earth Hour is to raise awareness about climate change issues, to encourage businesses, individuals, and government to take actions to reduce their carbon emissions and their impact on the environment in their daily lives and operations.

Extinguishing non-essential lights for one hour will help show that Reno stands with the rest of the world in seeking solutions about climate change and bringing awareness about environmental concerns. The City of Reno encourages everyone to join in this symbolic statement.

On January 22, 2010, the FAA approved the installation of the wind turbines on top of City Hall. For information on the project, visit the Green pages of Reno.Gov.

Photos of the Solar photovoltaic installations at the Downtown Parking Gallery and Downtown Events Center and the wind turbine at the Stead Wastewater Treatment plant have been added to the Green paged of Reno.Gov