Schools light Earth Hour torches from Dublin to Belfast
18 March 2010
Lots of schools are showing they care about climate change this month by taking part in WWF’s Earth Hour campaign. In the lead-up to the big global lights-out event on 27 March, school pupils are using special torches in a 100-mile relay from Dublin to Belfast.
The Lord Mayor of Dublin and others with the 30 pupils from St Brendans Boys National School, Artane, Dublin, participating in WWF Virtual Torch Earth Hour Relay
Pupils in participating schools are showing their support for Earth Hour by keeping a special WWF panda-shaped wind-up torch lit for an hour before passing on to the next school, in an Olympics-inspired relay, on its journey north from Dublin.
The Earth Hour torch relay was launched at St Brendan’s B.N.S. in Artane, Dublin on Wednesday 10 March by the city’s mayor, Emer Costello. Mayor Costello said:
“I am delighted to launch Earth Hour’s school torch relay as part of Earth Hour’s global call to action on climate change. As a former teacher and someone committed to the concept of lifelong learning, I know that our children are our greatest resource – and our greatest hope for the future.”
Torches will also be lit in Killiney, Dun Laoghaire, Rathfarnham, Donnybrook, Glasnevin, Tallaght, Terenue, Raheney, Tallagh, Cabra, and Fingal, before leaving Dublin and going through Ratoath, Ashbourne, Balbriggan, Navan, Drogheda and Louth, where it crosses the border to reach Belfast on 22 March. There the Lord Mayor will join children from one of the final schools to welcome the torch relay to the city.
Deputy Lord Mayor, Danny Lavery, met the children at the gates of City Hall. The children are from Victoria College, Inchmarlo Prep School and St Brides Primary School
Tony Lowes of Friends of the Irish Environment, coordinating Earth Hour for WWF in Ireland, says: “Schools have an important role in leading and championing action on climate change. After the disappointment of the Copenhagen climate change meeting, Earth Hour is a powerful way to send a message to our leaders that they must do better.”
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