[caption id="attachment_55600" align="alignnone" ] David Chan[/caption]

More than 7,000 cities, towns, and municipalities in 150 countries and territories went dark last Saturday for Earth Hour. (We thought it was viral marketing for Olympus Has Fallen.) In the US, it included the Las Vegas Strip, Times Square, Empire State Building (above), Niagara Falls, and the United Nations HQ. CRE owners and propertymanagersalso participated, encouraging tenants to turn lights off from 8:30 to 9:30pm as a symbolic call to reduce the impact of climate change. BOMA sent out informational and promo materials to its 93 local associations.

CBRE had an impressive showing: 3.5 million tenants in more than 665M SF of commercial properties worldwide participated. Managing an asset requires more than just equipping staff with green knowledge and tools, says CBRE global director of sustainability Dave Pogue. "To improve a buildings efficiency, we must influence occupant behavior through effective tenant engagement programs that convey the message of sustainability in a meaningful way." That includes: Earth Hour; thousands of tenants taking part in I Will If You Will challengesto spurgreen behavior all year long; and CBRE's Turn Over A New Leaf campaign, which encouragesa long-term, personal commitment by individuals to sustainability.