Chennai: 88888 Lights Out on Aug 8

After Sydney, London and more recently Mumbai, it���s Chennai that���s heading for the ���Lights out��� campaign ��� their way to fighting global warming. How? The Lights Out campaign aimed at creating awareness about the dangers of global warming has arrived in Chennai and the campaign is gaining momentum ahead of the D-day on August 8.

In Chennai the campaign has been christened ���88888 Lights Out��� as citizens are expected to turn off their lights for 8 minutes at the 8th hour in 8th month of the 8th year of the millennium. The campaign, incidentally, is being spearheaded by the Exnoral International���s Civil Exnora unit.

Says Manjari S, class XI, Boston Matriculation, ���I am excited that Chennai has been chosen for the event and I will definitely participate in it. We need to talk more on global warming and its effects, though it looks like it has been discussed at a great length. I guess we now need to do more.���

Shyamalee.K, class IX, Leo Matriculation agrees: ���As students we can do our bit by participating in such campaigns. It is the basic step we as youngsters can take to contribute and help find solutions to global warming.��� In fact, Shivani Gupta, class X, Lady Andal School, thinks that ���when students participate in such campaigns, people sit up and take notice. Any measure from the end of students is always well received. I am looking forward to taking part���.

For the record, similar campaigns held in Sydney, London and more recently, Mumbai, have proved effective in lowering power consumption. In fact, if the greenhouse reduction achieved in Sydney when 2.2 million people and 2,100 businesses turned off their lights for an hour was sustained for a year, it would be equivalent to taking 48,616 cars off the road.

And when students are poised for the day, actors don���t want to be far behind. Tollywood actress Deepa Venkat says she is all set for D-Day: ���I am glad that our city is participating in the initiative. I will definitely do my bit for it.���