Living in Peru : your everyday companion

Living in Peru
Israel Ruiz

Through an event known as 'Earth Hour', Peru has been invited to take part in the effort to demonstrate that the world is aware and concerned about global warming.

Earth Hour, which is held on the last Saturday of March, is an annual international event created by the World Wildlife Fund to raise awareness towards the need to take action on climate change.

The event asks people in Peru and around the world to turn off their non-essential lights and electrical appliances for one hour. This year's event will begin on March 29 at 8:30 p.m.

"The blacker the night on March 28th, the more clearly the world will have shown their awareness of the issue...by not showing anything at all," said Heather Sperling for Planet Green, an eco-lifestyle television network.

Since Peru is a country that is extremely affected by global warming, its citizens and residents have strongly been encouraged to participate, said national environment groups.

Peru's glaciers are home to 70 percent of the Earth's tropical glaciers. The Andes Mountains have lost at least 22 percent of their glacier area since 1970 and 20 to 30 meters of ice are lost yearly.

Authorities have warned that Lima is one of the largest desert cities in the world, second only to Cairo. Cairo however has the Nile, which has 2800 cubic meters of water per second. Lima on the other hand has the Rimac River, which has less than 1 percent of the Nile.

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