Melting Pandas urge Support for Environment Protection
As part of a series of city-wide initiatives held in conjunction with Earth Hour 2011 called “Go Beyond the Hour,” life-sized panda ice sculptures were melted under heat lamps at the Chengdu Panda Base to symbolize the effects of global warming. The giant panda Mei Lan, representing the endangered species in the world, switched off the lamps at 8:30 p.m. to commence Earth Hour 2011 and to illustrate the message: Protect my black and white colors; preserve our colorful world.
Chengdu was the first city in China to commit its support to Earth Hour 2010, the global campaign led by the World Wildlife Fund to increase climate change awareness. In 2011, Chengdu hopes to continue building on its reputation as a leader in the Chinese and global movements for environmental protection by raising awareness amongst its 13 million citizens.
“Low-carbon living is a philosophy advocated by Earth Hour and the WWF, and it aligns with Chengdu’s practice of low-carbon economic development and with our goal to transform Chengdu into a ‘World-Class Garden City,’” said Xiong Yan, Director of the Chengdu Municipal Information Office, “The city hopes to work hand-in-hand with the WWF to raise public awareness of environmental protection. We hope to show Chengdu’s 13 million citizens that we can save planet Earth by making small changes in our daily lives, and that engaging in low-carbon living is not as difficult as it seems.”
Ten “Environmental Protection Ambassadors” from Chengdu joined the ceremony and shared their commitments to protect the environment. These ambassadors were selected from an online campaign called “The Search for Environmental Protection Ambassadors,” which was initiated by the Chengdu Municipal Government.
To get into the spirit of Earth Hour 2011, the Chengdu Municipal Government also demonstrated its commitment to climate protection by distributing 60,000 bicycles in central Chengdu and opening over 1,000 bicycle rental outlets.
Click here for more Mei Lan / Earth Hour 2011 pictures on LanJingChao’s Xiong Mao blog.
