By any chance did you notice that your neighbourhood went dark or noticed any of your friends posting a lighted candle on Facebook last Saturday? That is about celebrating an event called Earth Hour. Earth Hour is one of the largest global movements celebrated annually as a commitment and to contribute to saving the planet. Earth Hour for 2021 was held last Saturday (27th of March) which is considered the largest Earth Hour event ever happened after it was first celebrated in Sydney, Australia 2007 as a light-off event.
Today let us find out what the global approaches are or how communities worldwide contributed to this important global event to save the planet and minimize adverse global climatic problems like global warming. During Earth Hour people try to take different approaches to achieve a common goal of an eco-friendly future. Different organizations and people as individuals contribute to the event in various means.
The official organizers for Earth Hour, earthhour.org had taken quite a different approach to the event amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The global organizing team invited people to take part in the event online. They encouraged people to wear a mask or maintain social distancing if the communities are planning to spend time outside with families and friends during the hour. They encouraged people to switch off lights, dinner in the dark with some candlelight, join the organization virtually, tune in online to Earth Hour live streams, book reading in candlelight, sign for the Voice of the Planet petition, and camp in the backyard, etc.
The Voice for the Planet petition is a call to world leaders urging them to take urgent actions to protect and restore nature. The Voice for the Planet petition will be presented at major global conferences at the end of the year. You also can participate in signing the petition here at https://www.earthhour.org/
UN encouraged communities to participate in the Earth Hour this year as well. It also joined landmarks around the world by turning off the lights at its New York Headquarters to participate in the Earth Hour 2021. UN chief addressing the event had mentioned that we need to make peace with nature and without nature’s help, we cannot thrive or even survive on the planet which is the utmost truth that all of us need to understand and work accordingly.
During earth hour celebrations lights were turned off at landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin together with the Colosseum in Rome in support of the Earth Hour to raise climate change awareness, and this year Moscow’s Red Square was lit only by the moon after the lights went off for one hour to mark its contribution to Earth hour.
This includes The Palace of Westminster, containing the House of Commons and House of Lords in London, England, The India Gate New Delhi, The Xi’an Bell Tower, China, Sydney Harbour Bridge, and the Opera House, South Korea’s Namdaemun Gate, and many more. Likewise, many cities around the world went dark for the Earth Hour this year and marked the largest Earth Hour ever.
Involving more than 190 countries this year’s Earth Hour Marked a huge success amid all the negative and sorrowful news around the world due to the pandemic shining a light of hope for future generations to come.
Image courtesy:
- www.axios.com
- www.earthhour.org
Written by:
Uresha Rodrigo
3rd Year
Zoology Special
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