I posted a diary about this [a call for a voluntary five-minute blackout between 7:55 and 8:00 pm to draw attention to the U.N. report on climate change being released on Feb. 1] a couple of days ago after receiving multiple e-mails from friends and seeing it covered in the major newspapers and on the television news here in Barcelona. I participated but did not see much repercussion looking out my window last night at the residential buildings across the street. The only participant I detected on my street was, surprisingly enough, the gas station opposite my building, really just several pumps and a freezer for selling bags of ice located in a small parking garage. I saw the lights go out, including those of their sign, and the attendant standing in the entrance and thought that they must be closing; five minutes later the lights came back on; at least the attendant on duty was participating! [I hate the smell of gasoline when the truck comes to fill their tanks and wonder what they're doing in the middle of a residential block, but I can't but help like them a little bit for this.]
The most prestigious newspaper in Spain, El País (behind a subscription wall), devoted two pages to coverage and estimated the reduction in Spanish power usage at 2.5%. Participation was highest in France with the Eiffel Tower in darkness during those five minutes. In Spain, power companies participated by turning off lights in their offices and expressed satisfaction that the subsequent turning back on of the lights at 8:00 pm did not cause problems at power stations. Graphics representing power demand published in El País showed an unmistakable dip at the corresponding time.
Imagine the same thing happening in Times Square, Las Vegas (the equivalent of turning out the lights in all of Belgium) and the Hollywood letters over Los Angeles, to name a few emblematic examples of illumination in the U.S., plus 7% of the U.S. population. Does it "work"? I think that anything that draws citizen and media attention to the issue is positive. If it also inspires citizens to use less energy every day and politicians to see a base of support for changing course, all the better.
Translated from the brief article in the local paper, La Vanguardia:
Headline: The blackout in Spain left more landmark buildings and businesses in darkness than private residences
Subheadline: Barcelona turned out the lights of the Sagrada Familia, and Madrid those of the Puerta de Alcalá, to protest climate change
Barcelona (Newsroom and agencies).- The symbolic blackout against climate change that left such emblematic buildings as the Sagrada Familia, the government offices of the Barcelona City Hall and the Generalitat de Catalunya [Catalonian regional government] in darkness only provoked a 3.3% reduction in the demand for electricity in Catalonia, according to sources at Fecsa-Endesa [local power company]. The company indicated that the protest did not cause malfunctions in the power supply network. In Spain overall, the reduction in demand for electricity was estimated at 1,000 megawatts by the Spanish Power Network. Its president, Luis Atienza, stated that 7% of the population of Spain participated.
The five-minute blackout, between 7:55 and 8:00 pm, an initiative of the French association Alianza por el Planeta [Allliance for the Planet], was seconded by the governments of the principal Catalonian and Spanish cities, although participation by citizens was low.
In Barcelona, the 46 municipal markets, some of the 1,3,00 businesses along the city's 19 commercial corridors and its main hotels joined the blackout. The Casa Batlló [historic residential building designed by Gaudí], the Sagrada Familia [Sacred Family cathedral, also designed by Gaudí], Tibidabo [landmark church overlooking the city], the Palacio de la Virreina [cultural center in a former nobleman's palace], the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya [Catalonian national art museum] and the Mercat de les Flors [performance space] are some of the buildings that turned out their lights. Institutions such as the Barcelona Football Club and the Barcelona House of Delegates also joined the protest.
... [list of other Catalonian cities that participated.]
In Granada, the Alhambra also joined the blackout.
[I wish I had seen this. As gorgeous as this pre-Spanish Moorish royal complex is lit up against the snow-capped mountains of the Sierra Nevada, it would have been moving to see its blink in solidarity with present-day ecological concerns.]
The initiative coincided with the discussion in Paris of the new report released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) which was six years in the making and is based on the research by 2,500 scientists in over 130 countries.
Although the main call for the blackout was limited to France, Internet spread the word all over the world. In Spain it was the organization Amigos de la Tierra [Friends of the Earth] that spread the message through the internet.
http://www.lavanguardia.es/...