(Miami, Florida) – On Saturday, March 29th, 2008, at 8:00 p.m. the lights of Earth Hour participants across the City of Miami will go out for one hour to raise awareness about climate change and global warming. The City of Miami Mayor Manny Diaz has joined the World Wildlife Fund to make Miami one of the many cities across the world to turn off non-essential lights for one hour, and also call on local businesses to join the effort. 

Media interested in obtaining footage of the Earth Hour effort will be able to film the exteriors of participating facilities at following locations: 
•        Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, 1300 Biscayne Blvd.
•        The Doubletree Grand, 1717 North Bayshore Dr.
•        Omni Mall, 1601 Biscayne Blvd.
•        Hilton Hotel, 1601 Biscayne Blvd.
•        Bank of America Tower, 100 SE 2nd St.
•        Ultra Music Festival, Bicentennial Park, 1075 Biscayne Blvd.
•        Mary Brickell Village, 901 S. Miami Ave.
•        Quantum on the Bay, 1900 Bayshore Drive
•        Government Center, 111 NW 1st St.
•        140 West Flagler County Building
•        Lyric Transit Village, 701 NW 1st Ct.
•        All County Courts
•        Miami City Hall, 3500 Pan American Drive
•        Miami Riverside Center, 444 SW 2nd Ave.
•        Hotel Sofitel Miami, 5800 Blue Lagoon Drive
•        Diaspora Vibe Gallery (Design District), 3938 N Miami Ave.  
•        Basil in the Grove, 3301D Grand Avenue
•        Miami Science Museum, 3280 South Miami Ave.

The Earth Hour initiative is part of Mayor Diaz’s Green Agenda, which includes an aggressive push to reduce the City’s greenhouse gas emissions, promotion of green buildings, energy efficiency upgrades to city buildings, implementation of a Tree Master Plan to increase the city’s tree canopy to 30%, and other environmental initiatives. 

Participating cities include San Francisco, Bangkok, Sydney, Tel Aviv, and Copenhagen. The City of Miami is joining participating cities in seizing the opportunity to demonstrate how we can all work together to make a positive impact in the fight against this global issue. All City of Miami lights impacting public safety will remain on, including street lights, and lights in public spaces, hospitals or emergency services will remain on for the duration of the event.

For more information about Earth Hour, please go to www.EarthHourUS.org.
For more information about the Mayor’s environmental agenda, please go to http://www.miamigov.com/cms/mayor/4060.asp