Earth Hour 2009 - Hungerford Bridge, London, UK

- My story (as part-captured on video) :

With seconds to go to Earth Hour (my camera was set on lights in distance and Big Ben) a large group of young boys (12/13yrs old?) arrived on the bridge and started spitting on the passing boat underneath. They were also taunting the women on the boat, throwing lit cigarette ends, and egging each other on to "piss on them" (can hear this on video).  I felt intimidated and not confident to turn camera on them, eve though they only came to my elbows in height! In the background, 8.30 struck, and the only perceivable lights to go out were around Westminster and Big Ben.

Stream of thought in moment:
- great to experience connection with Earth Hour (& rest of world, as followed previously online) via Westminster.
- Surprised that St. Paul's still & London Eye still stayed lit, as well as Royal Festival Hall (down to low awareness?)
- wondered whether people in their homes were actually honouring EH sentiment in any significant numbers, alongside all the major landmarks and corporations around the world (ie are individuals as conscientious as a lot of the corporates / governments??, or is the global imagery misleading?)
- regardless... the major challenge is to pass on awareness & involvement down to new generations - are we reaching them?  Hooligan young kids on bridge were v poignantly oblivious, and doubt they could have cared less about climate change even if they knew about Earth Hour that was taking place right in front of them.

- Stills (attached): High ISO, and poor night-shooting knowledge - hence graininess.  Before and after have been stitched together in 1 image - but I have all single images that can send.

- Video: 82mb - trying to reduce size...might have to upload to YouTube instead of emailing