Tomorrow, Saturday, March 28, hundreds of millions of people are expected to participate in the global Earth hour by switching off their lights. This is said to be a doubly significant year for the holiday, as it takes place nine months before a particularly important UN meeting on climate change in Paris.
Earth Hour, a non-profit organization based in Singapore, is a movement organized by the World Wildlife Foundation. The event started in Sydney, Australia, in 2007 as a city-wide lights-out event. Now more than 162 countries worldwide participate. This year, they expect over 7,000 cities in 172 countries to take part in a record-setting demonstration.
Famous landmarks such as the UN building in New York, London’s Houses of Parliament, Rio de Janeiro’s Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer) and the Eiffel Tower in Paris are some of the many that will participate in this iconic event. Other, in their private homes, will simply eat dinner by candlelight and play board games instead of watch TV to participate.
UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon delivered a speech in a video address urging people to participate. He reiterated, “Climate change is a people problem. People cause climate change and people suffer from climate change. People can also solve climate change. This December in Paris, the United Nations is bringing nations together to agree a new, universal and meaningful climate agreement. It will be the culmination of a year of action on sustainable development.”
In 2014, Earth Hour created a crowd-funding platform to raise money for people in developing countries. Fuel-efficient stoves were delivered to Madagascar, solar kits were brought to villages in Uganda, and solar power was brought to islands in the Philippines.
With mass-participation this year, Ban, as well as other authorities, are urging as many people as possible to participate to have an even bigger impact. Every person who turns off their light will have an opportunity to participate in this mass movement.
