To help bring attention to the environmental cause, The Salvation Army's territorial headquarters will participate in Earth Hour, the "lights out campaign" on Saturday, March 29, 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Earth Hour was launched last year in Sydney, Australia. For 60 minutes much of that city's skyline went dark as homes and businesses deliberately turned out their lights. As a result, the demand for electricity dropped significantly, showing the power of individuals to battle climate change.

This year Earth Hour will be an international demonstration of organizations, businesses and populations around the world. While Earth Hour alone will not solve all the problems with the environment, it's an opportunity to express concern and do something practical about them.

In 1995, The Salvation Army's Ethics Centre developed a Positional Statement on the Responsibility for the Environment. More recently, the Territory commissioned the Ethics Centre to study The Salvation Army's environmental policies and practices. "It is timely that our positional statement be put into practice as we become involved in Earth-keeping, which, for us, is a moral and theological imperative," notes Major Pearce Samson, property secretary.

By supporting Earth Hour, territorial headquarters hopes to create wider awareness on environmental issues. "By sensitizing the territorial offices to these issues," says Major Samson, "we hope to encourage others to be a part of the solution."