Earth Hour: Lights out, cascading around the globe

Puerta Alcala Madrid, Spain 2009, Before Earth Hour Puerta Alcala Madrid, Spain 2009, During Earth Hour - Photos courtesy of World Wildlife Fund

WASHINGTON, D.C. (HN March 25) – Earth Hour began in Sydney, Australia in 2007 when 2.2 million homes and businesses turned off their lights for one hour in a call for action on climate change.

Andy Ridley, one of the co-founders of Earth Hour, now Executive Director of Earth Hour Global could not have predicted that four years later 120 countries representing all seven continents would pledge to participate in what has become a global sustainability movement but, this Saturday, March 27 that is exactly what is expected to happen. Thousands of cities across the globe will go dark at 8:30pm local time for one hour and for 24 hours – cascading around the globe darkness will fall in reverence to the idea that human activity can affect the march on climate change.  

Earth Hour is a climate change initiative of the  World Wildlife Fund, one of the worlds’ largest and most respected independent conservation organizations, with almost5 million supporters and a global network active in over 100 countries.

From China’s Forbidden City in Beijing to Davis Station, a remote scientific outpost in Antarctica the lights will go off for one hour in what Andy Ridley calls a  “journey all about building momentum towards coming up with workable, practical solutions posed by climate change and global warming”.

“Earth Hour is about hope not despair”, Ridley told HUMNEWS. “It is about personal, corporate and government accountability”, and it excites him to see what individuals have been able to do to get their communities and governments on board. In 2008 nine students in Morocco decided to participate in Earth Hour because they had heard about it on the internet. This year two cities in Morocco, Casablanca and Rabat will be participating.

One of the stories, likely to stand out in 2010 is of one man who contacted Earth Hour offering to help bring the event to his country of Zimbabwe. Local businesses, a regional power utility and the district government were soon onboard. Spearheaded by the NGO, Environment Africa, Victoria Falls, one of the largest waterfalls in the world, bordering Zambia and Zimbabwe, will be the location for a candlelit vigil attended by hundreds of school children, community leaders and dignitaries in recognition of Earth Hour’s global mission.

Along with Victoria Falls some of the other landmarks that will stand in unity in darkness are: the Trevi Fountain in Italy, Big Ben in London, India Gate RedFort in Delhi, Bosphorous Bridge in Istanbul, Hohensalzvurg Castle in Salzburg, Independence Angel in Mexico City and National Cathedral in Washington DC.

Whether joining your community for the first time in this effort or turning the lights off, just as you did last year, Ridley encourages everyone across the globe to take part in this historic event. “All over the globe we can spend one hour celebrating what we all have in common – the planet and realize that it will take everyone participating to force solutions to better our world”, he says.

Some first time countries and territories to participate in Earth Hour this year are: Brunei, Cambodia, Czech Republic, Kosovo, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mongolia, Mozambique, Nepal, Northern Mariana Islands, Oman, Panama, Paraguay, Tanzania, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the Faroe Islands. Indeed many of these nations are at risk themselves for the changes wrought by climate transformation.

As for the future of Earth Hour, Ridley says he would like to find a way to use the event as a platform to show off the amazing things people all over the globe are doing to solve the problems affecting our environment and future.

This Saturday he says, “turn off your lights and spend some time thinking about climate change and what actions we can take to better the future of our living planet”.

Cristina Khalaf, reporting - Photo, courtesy of World Wildlife Fund