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Anorak News | Cate Blanchett’s Moving Earth Hour Tribute

Cate Blanchett’s Moving Earth Hour Tribute

by | 25th, March 2008

spit-candle-power.jpgEARTH Hour is the campaign to get us to turn off our lights and stop using electricity oat 8pm on March 29 for 60 minutes.

But can it be moved to, say, 3:15 to 4:14 am?

Actress Cate Blanchett has an idea:

One of the most prominent supporters of last year’s initial Earth Hour, the Sydney Theatre Company co-artistic director Cate Blanchett, will do her bit on Saturday, with the performance of The Year Of Magical Thinking moved forward to 6.30pm. The 90-minute show, directed by Blanchett and starring former STC director Robyn Nevin, will be followed by a “candlelight” supper party at the wharf to celebrate the hour of environmental awareness.

The power-free meal will, of course, be of a cold salad eaten off the ground with rain water lapped up from puddles. And the candles? Well, take care:

“There’s no such thing as a perfectly safe candle,” says Jim Shannon of the National Fire Prevention Association. “The most recent statistics we have, for one year: about 190 people killed from candle fires in the United States, and almost 1,500 injured.”

Those statistics also show that, in one year alone, the number of candle fires rose 15 percent, and nearly 5 percent of home fires were started by candles. Compare that to the early ’80s, when only around 1 percent of house fires were caused by candles.

Why the increase? Experts say it’s the jump in the popularity of candles.

No problem if you can’t find the matches in the dark…



Posted: 25th, March 2008 | In: Celebrities Comments (4) | TrackBack | Permalink