Earth Hour is an initiative put in place to heighten more awareness among people to be more environmentally friendly. In 2019, the event took place on Saturday, 30 March.
Concurrent Effort
What makes the Earth Hour so significant as an event is that it is held globally. The time is 8.30pm local time and this is carried out around the globe. In other words, there will be a place in the world that observes Earth Hour at any time during the entire day.
Global Environment Movement
What started out as a simple initiative in Sydney, Australia back in 2007 has grown to become one of the largest movements today. It was envisioned to raise awareness among the community which has now become significantly evident in countries, businesses, organizations and more importantly, among individuals. To date, over 180 countries and territories now observe and practice Earth Hour.
How does it work?
As the name implies, Earth Hour is run to create better awareness of how fragile the earth is and to have an hour of the specific day to commemorate this. How it works is that those pledging to be part of Earth Hour will switch off all lights (and electricity if possible) for a specific hour (or longer) from 8.30pm onwards. When this is done collectively, it sparks off an interesting situation that symbolizes unity and hope among people of that community.
Earth Hour 2019
This movement is organized by WWF (World Wildlife Fund) each year, inviting participation from countries across the world. In recent years, it has focused not only on saving the earth but also on creating more awareness on the importance of nature and how it matters. The Earth Hour movement has started acknowledging those who have created solutions in meeting the challenges of the environment. It has been more than 10 years now that global citizens have united and come in one voice to show their support in meeting the challenges of climate change and global warming. #Connect2Earth was used and the message is no longer just about saving the environment but also in the threat of loss of nature.
Earth Hour is more than just a call-to-action. It actually means more than that. When one can have nations coming together to carry out an action collectively, it sends a strong message to the others. It shows that there are more people who are concerned than those that don’t. Such actions, if not taken now will not be possible in the future. From a simple lights-out event in Sydney that raise so much awareness, it has now spread to skyscrapers, tall buildings, iconic structures and so much more. This is indeed a powerful message that will go on for years to come.
For 2020, the Earth Hour will be observed on Saturday, 28 March 2020 from 8.30pm onwards. As it is still far from the current time, those who would like to make their pledges for the environment can do so online.