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Las Vegas Strip goes dark for Earth Hour
The Strip, seen here from Mix at The Hotel at Mandalay Bay, is cloaked in unusual darkness Saturday, March 27, 2010, in observance of Earth Hour.
Saturday, March 27, 2010 | 10:15 p.m.
Earth Hour 2010
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del.icio.usThe Las Vegas Strip goes dark in observance of Earth Hour.
The strip of highway known for its iconic neon went dark for a global cause Saturday night.
From the “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign to the sky-high beam of the Luxor, Las Vegas dimmed its lights from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. Saturday for the third annual Earth Hour.
Las Vegas shut off its lights in solidarity with more than 4,000 cities in 120 countries to send a message about climate change and the importance of energy conservation. The city was named a showcase city for the World Wildlife Fund’s annual event.
The blackout began at the south end of the Strip and made its way north. One by one, the MGM Grand’s bright gold letters when dark, the Paris Las Vegas’ balloon and Eiffel Tower soon followed and the Flamingo turned off its pink and gold neon.
CityCenter’s LEED certified buildings — including the Mandarin Oriental, Aria and Vdara — all shut off their lights to show their continued commitment to sustainability.
While a handful of tourists snapped photos of the rare occurrence, most were unfazed by the darkness.
“What’s Earth Hour?” one tourist asked.
“It’s great for Mother Earth, but it’s bad for me when I’m trying to take photos,” another remarked.
This year, more than 30 Strip resorts and malls participated. Boyd Gaming properties off the Strip and other local landmarks and government buildings throughout the valley also went dark.
But streetlights, car headlights and lights from hotel rooms kept the Strip brightly lit.
“We didn’t even notice. I guess if it’s only for one hour and if it’s to conserve energy, it’s a good thing,” said Pam Burtenshaw, who was visiting from Indiana.
While many Strip resorts said they would be informing guests about the event, Burtenshaw and her husband said they didn’t hear anything about Earth Hour at the Monte Carlo, where they were staying.
“It seems like Las Vegas is the last city to be concerned about conserving energy,” John Burtenshaw said.
Andrew and Jennifer Perkins from California snapped a few photos of the dark marquees from near the Bellagio fountains.
“I think it’s really neat. It’s for a worthy cause and it sends a good message,” Jennifer Perkins said. “Plus, it’s not something you see every day.”
The couple said they received a letter this morning from the Bellagio, where they were staying, asking them to shut off all their lights from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m.
“We just got here this morning and received it, so I could see if you got in late, you might not know what’s going on,” Andrew Perkins said.
Earth Hour began in Sydney, Australia, in 2007 when more than 2.2 million people shut off their lights in support of action against climate change. Last year, the event attracted more than 80 million participants in the U.S. and nearly a billion people worldwide.
Henderson and Boulder City did not participate in Earth Hour, but in North Las Vegas, the city turned off the lights of its Justice Facility dome.
The Fremont Street Experience, home to the largest LED screen in the world, chose not to participate in this year’s black out, but many of the downtown casinos did.
“What the public doesn’t know about Las Vegas and where we really are leading the league is in the area of sustainability,” Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said at the Earth Hour press conference earlier this month. “The city has really dedicated itself to going green in every single respect.”
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Why the hell do libs worry about all this feel good crap?
Why don't they focus on "do" good crap?
Say like, jobs creation, balanced budgets and no deficit spending....
that looks creepy.
if obama gets re-elected those buildings will be dark for much longer than an hour.
people won't be able to afford to go to vegas.
What a stupid, phony, show. Ya right, they are interested in energy conservation!!! LOL!!!
After an hour, back to the business of taking stupid people's money.
Can you imagine the electric bill for just one day on the strip?
Whew- I thought for an hour that the 4 out of 10 residents really did move away from the valley, or that there was a new Oceans 14 heist.
The earth has been around for 4 billion years and has gone through many changes before man was here. There were glacier that formed the Grand Canyon and it all melted before man. Now it is mans fault that the remaining glaciers are melting.
Doesn't look very dark to me in this photo. Was out there and could see just fine..
Leave it to Fremont St. to stay open!
It was a cheap show to do and something different to see. Who cares about saving a little power. Do it every month just to mix things up a bit.
Have to love the posters in Las Vegas.
No good deed goes unpunished!
Thank god they kept the lights on at The Olympic Gardens.
Why didn't The Fremont Street canopy not participate? If anything, Earth Hour makes for good publicity...?
The Grand Canyon was formed by erosion not Glacial activity...... Yosemite though, that's the ticket.
Global warming, oops, climate change is more of same garbage brought to you by those folks who can't stand living in a free society.
Free health care, cap and trade, a weaker America is a stronger America and the ever popular notion the the U.S. owes the world an apology for saving their lousy A$$e$.
These are all the "freebie" crowds favorites.
We are doomed by the Liberals arrogance and the general populations ignorance.
This tradition started in 2007 in Sydney. I don't think it has anything to do with "libs". I think the message, whether effective or not, is a nice one and it doesn't hurt anything to try and make a positive point.
how about they turn off the rows and rows of slot machines in all these casinos when they aren't being played?
that ALONE would save a few polar bears.
i mean, really...when it's 3:26am on a wednesday night, does the luxor need all those slot machines running?
How about turning off that dam dam.
Any benefit to the environment was immediately counteracted by all the cars cruising up and down the strip, filled with people observing this nonsense.
thanks get a life . I am from Ohio and most of it was covered in ice during the ice age and I was let to believe it covered most of the United States. My mistake.
NICE.
I'll back it!
Whats Earth Hour?? lol
WAY TO GO, BABY. YOU'VE COME A LONG WAY IN GROWTH AND MATURITY. LOVE YOU. STARBEAMS
Well Obama's favorite resort, Maloof's Palms, stayed lit the whole hour.
Kind of hypocritical, definitely ironic I think.
If they delayed turning on the lights by 10 minutes every night, and turned them off 10 minutes earlier every morning, that would equal 120 "earth hours".
Sure, nobody would notice and there would be no publicity, but they would be doing more for their "cause" and saving a lot of money on the light bill.
Every hour is earth hour at my house, we watch what we use, not for some "save the earth" scheme, but to save money on the utility bill.
That doesn't mean we live in the dark, we just turn things off when we don't need them (lights are actually a minimal cost in energy use, unless you're lighting a mega resort).
Gas and electric bill this month: $40.56.
It's called survival in this economy.
It's all Obama fault and he hired Harry Reid. Run Neiman1 Run
Earth day is a total fraud perpetuated by total jokes.
... RePUKES at an L.A. BONDAGE Club!?! LMAO!!!