The Hour of Power
This Saturday night at 8.30pm, cities all around the world will turn their lights off for one hour and turn their attention to planet Earth. Beginning in Sydney in 2007, Earth Hour has rapidly become a global movement where hundreds of millions of people across the globe come together to demand greater action on climate change. Since its introduction 11 years ago, the event had grown to unite over 7,000 cities and towns across 187 countries and territories making Earth Hour, a staple of environmental awareness for the future of our planet.
Earth Hour goes far beyond individuals, communities and businesses switching off their lights and saving energy. It is a celebration of people across the world coming together and forcing the world to create more discussion and awareness about the impacts and possible solutions to climate change. Earth Hour has already empowered actions to be taken against climate change on a global scale. In 2016, over 250,000 trees were planted worldwide to create awareness for the protection of the planet’s magnificent forests and biodiversity. This year also saw WWF using the momentum of Earth Hour to continue creating awareness in countries after the climate summit in Paris to bridge the gap between people and policy. Earth Hour has also called for the promotion of sustainable lifestyles through helping people understand how their individual actions and choices can contribute to both causes and solutions for climate change.
So how do you get involved in Earth Hour? It’s easy because anyone can do it and no action is too great or too small when it comes to changing climate change!
- Pledge your allegiance to switching off via WWF’s Earth Hour website
- Join an Earth Hour event in your local area and celebrate with others
- Giving WWF complete control over your social media platforms for an hour and letting them share the message of Earth Hour to all your friends
Earth Hour isn’t just about switching the worlds lights off for an hour, it’s about taking steps towards change. No one causes climate change in isolation and no one can undertake it alone. Altering the path of climate change requires innovation, action and collaboration and this starts with all of us.
Check out WWF’s website to sign up and to find your local event! And be sure to follow the hashtag #connect2earth for more stories