Is Earth Hour a waste of time? - NO WAY!!
This Saturday is Earth Hour!
If you think that Earth Hour is simply a feel-good marketing exercise by bleeding-heart treehuggers which will never make a significant impact in the fight against climate change, you’d better think again, because chances are that you don’t actually understand the motivation behind the event or the massive effect it’s having all around the world.
Earth Hour 2013:
Saturday 23 March
8:30pm – 9:30pm
Saturday 23 March
8:30pm – 9:30pm
The very first Earth Hour was organised by the WWF in Sydney in 2007 – in true Aussie style it was initially going to be called “The Bick Flick” (not sure about you, but we’re happy they went with Earth Hour in the end!).
Since then the WWF’s Earth Hour initiative has been embraced by people from all walks of life and spread around the globe to become the largest single voluntary mass action for the environment every year.
The idea is to switch off all non-essential lights, electric appliances and machines for one hour to highlight the threat climate change, most of which is the result of our profligate fossil fuel consumption, poses to the entire planet.
In 2012, hundreds of millions of people in over 7000 cities and town in 152 countries and territories participated, as did companies, municipalities and national governments.
The lights went out temporarily at famous landmarks everywhere, from Buckingham Palace and the Eiffel Tower to the Golden Gate Bridge, the Colosseum in Rome, the Sydney Opera House, Kuala Lumpur’s iconic Petronas Towers and our very own Table Mountain.
Before you can fix a problem – any problem – you need to be aware of its existence and severity. The fact that so many people worldwide participate in Earth Hour is a very clear indication that an increasing number of us are concerned about what we are doing to our planet and all of its inhabitants.
This rapidly growing global consciousness engendered by Earth Hour is the first step towards a sustainable solution to our environmental challenges. For millions it’s their first tangible opportunity to move from awareness to taking positive actions that will make a difference.
We’re all in this together and only together will we be able to fix the problem.
Can you afford not to be a part of it?
Do yourself and the generations that will come after you a favour and do Earth Hour this year!
