By Renee Worthing 

Staff Writer 

The Sears Tower in Chicago will disappear into the dark for an hour Saturday. For 60 minutes lit swags of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco will not light the way across the bay. In Phoenix, all city government buildings will darken between the hours of 8 and 9 p.m.

It is all part of EarthHour, a global effort to take action against global warming on March 29.

The movement, which began in Sydney, Australia last year has become a global effort this year with cities all around the world planning to turn off the lights between 8 and 9 p.m. on March 29. 

Several communities across Maine will observe Earth Hour, including residents of Kennebunk and South Portland. 

Kennebunk resident and Maine School Administrative District (MSAD) 71 employee Sandy Heinbach said members of St. Andrews Church in Kennebunk will do their part by turning off their lights and heading to the church for a candle-lit “meditative” service. 

“This is just a neat way to bring the congregation together,” she said, adding the public was welcome to attend. 

She said the only requirement was the desire to “make a difference in the world we live in.” 

“It’s a nice way to encourage people to save earth’s resources,” Heinbach said. 

She said MSAD 71 science teachers are also encouraging students to participate. 

South Portland resident and local spokesman for EarthHour Liz Seidel, along with members of the Maine chapter of the Sierra Club, have worked since January to spread the word about EarthHour and organize a celebration at Monument Square in Portland from 7:30 to 9 p.m. 

She said the event will feature guest speakers, a countdown to lights out and acoustic music entertainment by Elaine and Rick Colella. 

Seidel said Sierra Club Cool Cities National Campaign Director Glen Brand would also be on hand to talk about what people can do to make EarthHour a daily occurrence. 

“After hearing about Sydney where two million people and businesses took part, we thought we could do it, too,” Seidel said. “They (Sydney) turned out all the lights in the city. Restaurants had candlelit dinners.” 

Seidel said global participation was a “huge event and very symbolic for the entire world to make a statement.”

It’s about making simple changes, she said, such turn out lights as you leave the room.

Seidel said it was unclear how much of a savings turning off the lights for EarthHour would result. 

“We can’t get into increments that small,” Central Maine Power Spokesman Gail Rice said.  

Because the savings can’t be measured by CMP, Seidel said the Sierra Club is asking people to sign up on the Sierra Club Web site so they can keep track of how many people participate in EarthHour.

“We want to be able to get the whole state involved in EarthHour,” Seidel said. “We all have to take part in order to be effective.”

Seidel said South Portland is also in the process of becoming a “Cool City” in the Sierra Club’s Cool Cities Program. 

“The Cool Cities program was created to allow people to find solutions to global warming in their local government,” she said. 

 Cool Cities began in 2005 when Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels launched the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. Since then, 900 cities around the country have become “Cool,” including 17 in Maine, Kennebunk and South Portland among them.

“The federal government hasn’t taken strong measures to combat global warming,” Seidel said. “It’s up to the communities.”

She said one of the advantages to being a Cool City was the ability to communicate with other cities to find grant money that most city governments are unaware of. 

She said the grant money could be used for such things as wind turbines like the one installed in Saco. 

She said South Portland is making strides in its Cool designation as the city’s streetlights are LED and the city is using bio-diesel in city vehicles. 

She said people can make the pledge to participate in EarthHour by signing on to www.maine.sierraclub.org.

style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 7.2px; font: 9.0px New Century Schoolbook">“They can sign up right to the last minute,” she said.