What is Earth Hour?
The largest grassroots movement for the environment, Earth Hour inspires millions of people to take action for our planet and nature. Sponsored and encouraged by the World Wide Fund for Nature, it is a global call for us to take a stand against climate change and protect our planet.
It started as a local event in Sydney, Australia back in 2007 and has since grown into a symbolic event focused on switching off power for 60 minutes and taking climate action across the globe.
What is Earth Hours impact?
From pushing for climate friendly laws to lighting up homes with solar energy, Earth Hour has only had a positive impact for our planet.
“Earth Hour helps to remind electricity consumers that small conservation acts can lead to large benefits.” – globalnews.ca
Held annually, Earth Hour is a mass effort coordinated to reduce electricity consumption for 1 hour. The aim is to call attention to environmentally sustainable action through the collective impact made when when individuals, businesses, governments and communities voluntarily combine electricity conservation efforts.
Last year, 187 countries and a whopping 3,100 landmarks and monuments participated and switched off their lights. 30 Countries saw #EarthHour trend and over 350 ambassadors and influencers joined the movement. Once again, this year on the last Saturday in March, thousands of people will use their voice to inspire, motivate and lead the charge on their hopes, dreams and concerns about the planet.
With accelerating climate change and staggering biodiversity loss threatening our planet, we should leverage the momentum and energy of the Earth Hour movement to connect people to Earth
Earth Hour has always been about the power of individuals to be a part of global conversations and solutions for our planet. Connect2Earth is a call for people worldwide to connect with the environmental issues and causes that they personally care about. This Earth Hour, we invite people around the world to ‘spark’ never-before conversations on the loss of nature around them. Connect2Earth.org is a platform to capture global conversations around biodiversity, for people to connect to each other and drive global awareness and action on biodiversity. It is the first step toward creating the global momentum we need to steer the planet away from a path of staggering biodiversity or nature loss.
Below are some ideas suggested by Earth Hour as to how you could take part
• Want to keep it simple? You could host a candle-lit dinner, go stargazing, organise a night of board games or book readings, or simply switch off your lights for an hour
• Your voice has never been more important. Share your thoughts on the issues that matters to you on your social media platforms and spark conversations with your peers by hashtagging connect2earth! Remember, keep your accounts public to allow like-minded individuals to join in your conversations
• Remind your friends and family to switch off their non-essential lights and all other unnecessary electrical appliances during Earth Hour and beyond; your call to action then becomes theirs to pass on as well
• Use your social network to spread the word on Earth Hour. The more people that get involved, the bigger the impact we can create for our planet!
How can you make a difference beyond Earth Hour?
Living sustainably can be something so simple yet impactful. You could:
• Simply join the conversation and keep it going! Engage yourself in conversations and share as you learn
• Inform yourself and others on climate change and its impact on our planet
• Switch to LED lights
• Say NO to paper and plastic; use reusable bags as often as possible
• Walk or cycle to places and take public transportations
• Go digital! Only print and make use of paper when necessary and always use both sides when possible
• Eat wisely – Choose to consume sustainably-sourced products and only purchase what is necessary to minimize food wastage
• Shop responsibly – Select products with biodegradable packaging and items made with natural and organic ingredients
• Ditch the disposables; utilize reusable lunch-boxes and water bottles as much as you can
And these actions form just the very tip of the iceberg; there is no limit to a clean and sustainable lifestyle you can choose to live or the actions you can take with Earth Hour.
Everything begins with YOU, the individual, and it’s time for us to start a conversation about our home, it’s time to Connect2Earth.
Earth Hour will take place on Saturday, 24 March from 8.30pm to 9.30pm in our local timezone at Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens in Cape Town.
Sign up and take part here: https://www.earthhour.org/celebrate-the-hour
