The call to join the "Candle Night--Summer Solstice 2004" is spreading across Japan and around the world. This annual event, under the slogan of "Turn off the light, take it slow," will be held this year from 8 to 10 p.m. (your local time) on the evenings of June 19, 20 and 21.

Started originally as a grassroots initiative, Japan's Ministry of the Environment in recent years has added its official support for the event. On the summer solstice last year, the lights went out in 2,300 public and private facilities nationwide, including the Tokyo Tower, one of the city's main landmarks, and an estimated five million people participated in the event.

In modern society, people consume huge amounts of information, goods and energy. "Unplugging" temporarily can awaken us to different ways of spending our time and to other standards of abundance. Sharing these opportunities with others as a social experience will also make "Candle Night--Summer Solstice 2004" a voluntary culture-creating event.

The event focuses on spreading "a gentle wave of candle light around the Earth." People can participate in the candlelight event in their own ways, such as spending the time with the family or a loved one, enjoying quiet time or the beauty of the stars, reviewing their own life style, and thinking about peace, the global environment, energy saving, global warming, or cutting carbon dioxide emissions. "Candle Night" can serve as an open space where everyone can enjoy themselves while sharing the concept of the event.

Special features this year:
1. The organizers are encouraging people in more than 150 countries to participate (last year it was only in Japan).
2. This year's "Candle Night" event will be held over three days, to allow more people to participate (Saturday and Sunday, and then Monday, June 21, the actual day of this year's solstice). In Japan, the Ministry of the Environment recommends that lights in public and private facilities be turned off on Sunday, June 20, when a count-down event will be held near the Tokyo Tower.


http://www.candle-night.org/index.html
- Candle Night—Summer Solstice 2003 (Related JFS article)
http://www.japanfs.org/db/360-e

Posted: 2004/06/16 11:28:57 AM
Japanese version

TAG Energy , Global warming , Government , NGO/Citizen , Other