LOS ANGELES Guests will dine exclusively by candlelight at restaurants across the country on Saturday night as part of a global effort to turn off all lights for one hour to make a statement about climate change.
The World Wildlife Fund is asking individuals, businesses, governments and organizations around the world to turn off all electric lights for “Earth Hour” from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. local time on Saturday. The largely symbolic gesture is designed as a way to show support for efforts toward environmental sustainability and planetary good health.
McDonald’s restaurants around the world, for example, are participating in various ways, such as turning off their road signs, roof beam lights and other non-essential lighting, both inside and outside units. The giant McDonald’s advertising sign in London’s Piccadilly Circus will be switched off for the hour, which will be preceded with a countdown timer to Earth Hour promoting the event.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, which includes 940 hotels under the Weston, Sheraton, St. Regis, The Luxury Collection, Four Points and other brand names, said about 350 of its properties worldwide will be participating. Guests will be asked to turn off room lights, and the hotels will also turn off or dim exterior lighting and use candlelight in public areas, restaurants and bars for the hour.
The 57-unit Ted’s Montana Grill chain said it would turn off all non-essential lights at its restaurants.
More than 40 Los Angeles restaurants have signed on to darken their dining rooms during Earth Hour, from Adoro Mexican Grille in downtown Los Angeles to Tracht’s at the Renaissance Long Beach Hotel.
In honor of the event, San Francisco city lawmakers reportedly introduced legislation waiving the $270 permit required for use of “open-flame devices in public assembly,” which restaurants would typically be required to pay if they only use candles. Though not adopted yet, officials said the waiver would likely pass retroactively at a later meeting.
Foodservice contractor Aramark has pledged to turn off the lighted sign on top of its world headquarters in Philadelphia, as well as in office buildings.
Some restaurants are turning the lights-off demonstration into a marketing event. The Pyramid Restaurant at The Fairmont Dallas, for example, is featuring a special four-course menu by candlelight for $45 including cane-sugar gravlax made with sustainable farm-raised Scottish salmon, grapefruit-lacquered quail, a wild boar chop with Texas Winery Cabernet Sauvignon veal glaze, and limoncello cheesecake.
The It’s a Grind Coffee House in Dallas is planning a candlelight party on its outdoor patio. Al Fresco Restaurant in Miami is also hosting an outdoor candlelit event, which includes a screening of the Al Gore documentary about climate change, “An Inconvenient Truth.”
In Chicago, the Hard Rock Hotel’s Base Bar is offering $5 cocktails and organic wine in the dark all evening, served with glowsticks.
MarketHouse in Chicago is reportedly serving a menu prepared with no electricity or heat, including such dishes as poached shrimp and beef carpaccio. Ten percent of proceeds for the event will go to the World Wildlife Fund.
Contact Lisa Jennings at [email protected].
