The Kingsbury inspires guests and staff during Earth Hour

Saturday, 6 April 2013 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

“The care of the Earth is our most ancient and most worthy, and after all our most pleasing responsibility. To cherish what remains of it and to foster its renewal is our only hope” – Wendell Berry

The Kingsbury, the landmark of luxury living in Colombo, participated in observing Earth Hour 2013 by turning off non-essential lighting and unplugging electrical devices on stand-by mode during 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on 23 March 2013.

The Kingsbury staff and guests gathered in the lobby and lit candles to signify their support in Earth Hour’s cause, which is to raise awareness on energy conservation and climate change.

“We proudly support Earth Hour as this is a very significant global initiative which encourages people to take action against climate change. Our primary objective here was to inspire our guests and staff of the need to conserve energy both at work and at our homes. From a management point of view our attention to green practices are of paramount importance and The Kingsbury will continue to play our part as responsible citizen of the world,” said Dinithi Somaratne, Manager Corporate Communications and PR .

Earth Hour took place on 23 March and was participated in by more than 100 countries across the world. Organised by the World Wildlife Fund, the initiative continues to gain millions of supporters around the world.

Earth Hour was first put into practice in 2007 in Sydney, Australia. Over two million people and 2,000 businesses turned off their lights for an hour. By 2008 what had begun as a country based event had panned out into a ‘Global Sustainability Movement’ with the participation of 370 cities and towns in over 35 countries crossing 18 time zones.

By 2010 Earth Hour had become a phenomenal environmental event with the amazing record of 1.3 billion persons taking part in 4,616 cities in 128 countries, and more than 5,200 cities and towns in 135 countries in 2011. 2010 also marked the beginning of Sri Lanka’s participation in this exciting event. Last year, more than 7,000 cities and towns in 152 countries across all seven continents took part in the initiative, with hundreds of millions taking part – making it the biggest growth since 2009.