Switch off

how we gave the planet 5 minutes respite

On Thursday 1 February 2007at 19:55 on the eve of the release of the IPPC climate change report, 3 million French households or 7 million people (according to RTE - the French Electricity Transport Network) switched off their lights. Many public monuments were plunged into darkness, including the Eiffel Tower in Paris. During the 5 minute switch off, electricity consumption decreased by 1% or 800 MW - the equivalent of 1 nuclear power plant.

Photo © Marco Foley

The action was coordinated by Friends of the Earth France and the "Alliance for the Planet" (a coalition of French green NGOs and many others) to put pressure on the candidates to the presidential elections in May 2007.

The hugely popular action drew international attention - around 20 countries took part, switching off public monuments in Spain, Belgium, Canada, Italy, Germany, Australia and others.

Friends of the Earth France campaigner Sebastien Godinot was amazed at the response. "We did not expect it would be so massively popular. In 15 days, more than 100,000 people have visited our website to find out about the action. It shows that ordinary people are very concerned about climate change and and are willing to take action."

around the world

Belgium

We had a huge success with the 5 minutes action in Belgium, and saved 2,7% of electricity, almost equal to 1 nuclear reactor at Doel power station. The action, supported by the Friends of the Earth groups in Belgium, got very good media coverage. Full page advertisements taken out by Belgium's main electricity provider Electrabel rebounded on them .

Electrabel (part of Suez) tried to jump on the bandwagon, placing full-page advertisements in Belgian newspapers calling people to participate in the 5 minute action. But we got the last word - a joint news release by Friends of the Earth (Flanders & Brussels) and les Amis de la Terre (Wallony & Brussels) was picked up by the media. We showed their hypocrisy, their energy policy is keeping us locked into the use of dirty fuels, both fossil and nuclear.

Pol D'Huyvetter
Friends of the Earth Flanders & Brussels

Spain

The news "hit" us in Spain on Thursday (7 days before the event) when your email calling for a black-out was received, signed by Amigos de la Tierra. It took us a couple of hours to figure out that it wasn't anybody from our organisation who had sent it and that it had come from France (translated on the way).

Initially we fielded media calls, saying that the action was staged by Amis de la Terre in France as part of the Alliance pour la Planète. As the idea snowballed we found ourselves responding to media on a massive scale and making the call to support the action.

All our staff were diverted to handle the calls and organise interviews and rendezvous on the big night. Liliane was chained to her telephone to handle the interviews (one TV Channel, 22 radio stations, and various newspapers).

On Thursday night, Jorge was in one location in Madrid to handle interviews.

Meanwhile others met media in the Puerta de Alcala, where we were interviewed by 3 TV Channels, 2 national radio stations and a number of newspapers.

On Friday all the media were talking about it and gave prominence to the IPCC Report – the network took a massive 1.1GW dive (over 18 million 60W light bulbs).

Our members have been calling and sending emails to congratulate us and the media have taken a renewed interest in our work. So, thank you Amis de la Terre for making last week interesting and very productive.

Lawrence, Amigos de la Tierra, Spain

your feedback

I was in a tapas bar in Camden Town in London last night and the waiter came over to us (and all the other tables in the busy restaurant) and asked if we minded them turning off the electricity for 5 minutes in an action against climate change. Everybody agreed. The atmosphere was really good and it really made me (and I'm sure others in the restaurant) think about how we take for granted electricity in London and how severe the unknown impacts of climate change may be.
Hannah Ellis, UK

A great idea, simple but hopefully very effective, I hope the UN and Governments will be watching. May even catch some stars for once, instead of the dreadful glare of street lights.
Andy Harrod, England

This evening I dined by candlelight, turning out the lights and helping out in giving 5 minutes respite for the planet. It felt good to be doing something positive, it was fun, and it was my chance to join a popular movement to show the world's leaders that it's time they took action on climate change.
Debra Broughton, Netherlands

On 1 February at the appointed time, we turned the lights off at our Woodcraft Folk Elfins (6 to 10 year olds) club held in Glenbrook School, Clapham, London SW4 (UK). During the 5 minutes we played a game involving guessing what objects were by feeling them.
Veronica Hammerstone