Few takers for ‘Earth Hour’ in Kingdom - Arab News

DAMMAM/RIYADH/JEDDAH: In the end, it turned out to be just that, a colossal hype. There were very few takers for Earth Hour 2010 to call for action on climate change.

As the clock ticked 8.30 p.m. in Dammam and Alkhobar, almost nothing happened. No lights were switched off in the main thoroughfares or residential districts of the two Eastern Province cities.
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“Maybe, people saw it as a gimmick,” said businessman Muhammad Jaffer. “Nobody took it seriously.”

In Riyadh, too, the campaign fizzled out. While some areas did observe Earth Hour by dutifully shutting off power, a majority of Saudis and expatriates thought nothing about it.
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“What Earth Hour?” asked a rather bemused Nayeemullah Hamid, a teacher who resides in the same district. “I don’t know about other areas but here in Aziziah, there is no power outage!”