Ever wondered what the world would do if all the electricity went out? Edwardsville is about to find out on March 29. It starts at 7 PM and will be ending around 10 PM. At 8:30 PM all the lights will be turned off throughout the town for what the Environmental Club calls Edwardsville Unplugged.
For an hour, Edwardsville citizens will gather in the city park by the public library, where there will be live bands such as Love Me Leave Me, FairSide Banner, Happenstance and The Setback. Environmentally-friendly glow sticks will be sold, along with other items from the clubs around EHS.
When the lights go off, the bands will begin to play everything acoustic and there will be food and other items provided by the tents that people will be able to buy.
“I am looking forward to it,” says sponsor Mr. Bill Herman. “It’s supposed to be nice weather and the bands coming out to play are said to be amazing.” Mr. Herman has been helping the Environmental Club spread the word about this night in hope that everyone will come out to support.
“My teacher, Mr. Herman, told our whole class about it,” said junior Hannah Lawrence, who plans on attending the event. “I think it will be fun, plus it is for a good cause.”
President of the Environmental Club, junior Rebecca Laurent, hopes for a good outcome.
“The Environmental Club has been trying to get this started for about three years now and we are just finally being able to participate in it,” Laurent said. “I think it will be a great symbol for Edwardsville to be involved in something that is going on throughout the world.”
Edwardsville Unplugged is just a small part of a movement called Earth Hour which is going on all over the world. Organized by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), it originated in Sydney, Australia in 2007 as a “lights-off” event.
According to the WWF website, there are more than 6,950 cities and towns across 152 countries and territories participating.
The numbers are steadily increasing as more attention is brought to the public and members of the uprising, hope for it to keep growing until the whole world participates.
