On Saturday the 26th March 2011, millions of people around the Earth will be turning off their lights for one hour to take a stand against climate change. Earth Hour, is a pledge of support initiated by the WWF which has quickly become a global sustainability movement with more than 50 million people across 35 countries/territories participating in 2008. Originating in Sydney, WWF Australia began looking at new ways to mainstream climate change and engaging people with it after being confronted with serious scientific data. This lead to Earth Hour – a campaign based on hope not fear, with the idea that everyone is able to take personal responsibility for the Earth’s future. This year, the WWF want people to take it one step further and to think beyond the hour and other steps you can take to make a difference [1].
Earth Hour over the years
Earth Hour has rapidly grown since its beginnings in 2007. Here are some of the successes:
- 2007 – 2.2 million individuals and more than 2000 businesses turned off their lights for one hour.
- 2008 – more than 50 million people across 35 countries/territories participated. Global symbolic landmarks such as the Sydney Harbour Bridge, CN Tower in Toronto, Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, and the Colosseum in Rome also turned off their lights and stood in darkness to highlight the cause.
- 2009 – hundreds of millions of people took part in over 4000 cities in 88 countries/territories. This made Earth Hour 2009 the world’s largest global climate change initiative.
- 2010 – as the largest Earth Hour ever, a record 128 countries and territories took part. Iconic buildings and landmarks across Asia Pacific to Europe and Africa to the Americas switched off their lights and people across the world came together [2].
How to take part
If you want to take part in Earth Hour 2011, switch your lights off at 8.30pm (local time) on Saturday 26 March. You could also run your own Earth Hour event with friends and family or encourage your local government or community groups to take part. Make sure you sign up at http://www.earthhour.org/Homepage so the WWF can calculate the success of the campaign this year
Even with the lights on you can make a difference, with energy efficient light bulbs if you want to go one step further towards helping the environment.
