One local citizen is hoping that all of Cochrane will get behind Earth Hour this year. Nic David, from the Cochrane Environmental Action Committee, appeared before town council Feb. 22 to plead his case.

“We all agree conservation of energy matters,” David told council. “This is a great opportunity to bring conservation to Cochrane.”

The worldwide event that hopes to see every light turned off for one hour will take place March 27 from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

David is hoping the Town will help Cochrane power down. He said a major problem is over-lighting areas with inefficient lights that not only increase light pollution in the sky, blocking Cochrane’s traditional view of the stars, but also encourages vandalism.

But the Town found out just flicking off a switch isn’t that easy. After questioning administration, council found out they have a service agreement with Fortis but would have to figure out logistically how to power down certain grids.

Council decided to respect Earth Hour, and asked administration to come back to the first council meeting in March with a plan to turn off all municipal lights not in use and residential neighbourhood lights excluding the downtown core.

Council would also like to see the lights off at Mitford Pond, which would work nicely with David’s plan to have a public telescope viewing of the night sky during Earth Hour. And finally, council would like to see more permanent solutions such as a dark sky policy and more efficient lighting — which is partially covered in the Town’s Land Use Bylaw and the current retrofitting of lights in certain areas of town.

Last year, the Earth Hour initiative was supported by 10 million Canadians, including the Alberta government and more than 200 municipalities across the country.

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