Earth Hour: What is it and why is it important?
By
Staff, AccuWeather
Published May 18, 2020 2:04 PM EST
Landmarks went dark as some of the world's most famous buildings mark the 11th annual Earth Hour to draw attention to climate change. The initiative began in Australia in 2007 as a gesture by the World Wildlife Fund against man-made carbon dioxide emissions which have been linked to global warming. This year, 7,000 cities across more than 180 countries switched off electric lights for one hour at 8:30 p.m. local time.
For one hour later this month, lights will go out all around the world. At that time, the world will be celebrating the 12th annual global Earth Hour.
Photo by WikiImages
WikiImages
Led by the World Wide Fund for Nature, Earth Hour is an annual coordinated effort to get homes, communities, and businesses around the world to turn off non-essential electric lights for one hour. The 2020 Earth Hour will be held on Saturday, March 28 from 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm local time. The goal of Earth Hour is to raise awareness about energy consumption and its impact on the environment. In 2007, the Australian branch of the World Wide Fund for Nature held the first Earth Hour on March 31 at 7:30 pm as a country-wide effort to increase environmental consciousness around Australia. Earth House was a tremendous success, so the World Wide Fund for Nature followed up on it by organizing the first global Earth Hour on March 29, 2008, from 8:00 pm to 9:00 pm.
Photo by Gerd Altmann
Gerd Altmann
Since the first global Earth Hour in 2008, more than 7,000 localities, including 400 major cities, across nearly 190 countries and territories have come to participate in the grassroots movement each year. Major landmarks, such as the Eiffel Tower, Sydney Opera House, and the Empire State Building, and even many websites—including Google—have joined in Earth Hour. There are also numerous organizations and agencies that now support and promote Earth Hour, including UNESCO, the UN Environment Program, and the International Trade Union Confederation, as well as corporations such as IKEA, HSBC, Hilton Worldwide, and FIFA.
Photo by Marcinjozwiak
marcinjozwiak
According to a study by Zogby International, approximately 36 million Americans, or roughly 16 percent of the population, participate in Earth Hour. Across the globe, Earth Hour includes over 120 million people and results in a one-hour 4 percent reduction of energy consumption. The most important effects, however, are not in saving energy but in building awareness. The same study by Zogby found that people reported a four-percentage point increase in their level of concern about environmental problems immediately after Earth Hour.
As the World Wide Fund for Nature explains, Earth Houris not a carbon reduction exercise but a symbolic action. The objective is to encourage people, governments, and businesses to recognize their ecological footprint and start thinking about how to take responsibility for managing it in a more sustainable way. By participating in Earth Hour, people are making a commitment to fight climate change and build a better future for our planet. Earth Hour helps to create a sense of solidarity between people across national borders by reminding us all that while stopping the progress of climate change is a global problem, it does have some local solutions—from turning off the lights when you leave a room, carpooling to work, or simply staying in tune with your local forecast to understand how climate change is affecting your area. In addition, the success of Earth Hour has led directly to a number of other crowd-funded environmental initiatives, such as the planting of half a million trees in Uganda to combat deforestation and passing of legislation to protect 3.4 million hectares of sea off the coast of Argentina. It has also renewed global interest in making Earth Day another centerpiece of collective action to combat climate change.
Earth Hour helps remind millions of people around the world of the importance of making environmentally conscious decisions in their daily lives, and it demonstrates how those millions of decisions can add up together to major change. It serves to encourage people to seek out the facts about climate change and its long-term catastrophic impact on our planet and our lives.
As we rapidly consume our planet’s finite amount of fossil fuels, we are also devastating our planet’s environment with pollution, global warming, and climate change. With such a major challenge before us, it can seem daunting and perhaps overwhelming. It is all too easy to lose sight of the fact that our everyday actions can make a difference—especially when we all work together. To see the breathtaking images of Earth Hour 2019, click here.
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Earth Hour: What is it and why is it important?
By Staff, AccuWeather
Published May 18, 2020 2:04 PM EST
Landmarks went dark as some of the world's most famous buildings mark the 11th annual Earth Hour to draw attention to climate change. The initiative began in Australia in 2007 as a gesture by the World Wildlife Fund against man-made carbon dioxide emissions which have been linked to global warming. This year, 7,000 cities across more than 180 countries switched off electric lights for one hour at 8:30 p.m. local time.
For one hour later this month, lights will go out all around the world. At that time, the world will be celebrating the 12th annual global Earth Hour.
Photo by WikiImages
What is Earth Hour?
Led by the World Wide Fund for Nature, Earth Hour is an annual coordinated effort to get homes, communities, and businesses around the world to turn off non-essential electric lights for one hour. The 2020 Earth Hour will be held on Saturday, March 28 from 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm local time. The goal of Earth Hour is to raise awareness about energy consumption and its impact on the environment. In 2007, the Australian branch of the World Wide Fund for Nature held the first Earth Hour on March 31 at 7:30 pm as a country-wide effort to increase environmental consciousness around Australia. Earth House was a tremendous success, so the World Wide Fund for Nature followed up on it by organizing the first global Earth Hour on March 29, 2008, from 8:00 pm to 9:00 pm.
Photo by Gerd Altmann
Who participates in Earth Hour?
Since the first global Earth Hour in 2008, more than 7,000 localities, including 400 major cities, across nearly 190 countries and territories have come to participate in the grassroots movement each year. Major landmarks, such as the Eiffel Tower, Sydney Opera House, and the Empire State Building, and even many websites—including Google—have joined in Earth Hour. There are also numerous organizations and agencies that now support and promote Earth Hour, including UNESCO, the UN Environment Program, and the International Trade Union Confederation, as well as corporations such as IKEA, HSBC, Hilton Worldwide, and FIFA.
Photo by Marcinjozwiak
What is the impact of Earth Hour?
According to a study by Zogby International, approximately 36 million Americans, or roughly 16 percent of the population, participate in Earth Hour. Across the globe, Earth Hour includes over 120 million people and results in a one-hour 4 percent reduction of energy consumption. The most important effects, however, are not in saving energy but in building awareness. The same study by Zogby found that people reported a four-percentage point increase in their level of concern about environmental problems immediately after Earth Hour.
Photo by Skeeze
Why is Earth Hour important?
As the World Wide Fund for Nature explains, Earth Houris not a carbon reduction exercise but a symbolic action. The objective is to encourage people, governments, and businesses to recognize their ecological footprint and start thinking about how to take responsibility for managing it in a more sustainable way. By participating in Earth Hour, people are making a commitment to fight climate change and build a better future for our planet. Earth Hour helps to create a sense of solidarity between people across national borders by reminding us all that while stopping the progress of climate change is a global problem, it does have some local solutions—from turning off the lights when you leave a room, carpooling to work, or simply staying in tune with your local forecast to understand how climate change is affecting your area. In addition, the success of Earth Hour has led directly to a number of other crowd-funded environmental initiatives, such as the planting of half a million trees in Uganda to combat deforestation and passing of legislation to protect 3.4 million hectares of sea off the coast of Argentina. It has also renewed global interest in making Earth Day another centerpiece of collective action to combat climate change.
Earth Hour helps remind millions of people around the world of the importance of making environmentally conscious decisions in their daily lives, and it demonstrates how those millions of decisions can add up together to major change. It serves to encourage people to seek out the facts about climate change and its long-term catastrophic impact on our planet and our lives.
Photo by Ooceey
As we rapidly consume our planet’s finite amount of fossil fuels, we are also devastating our planet’s environment with pollution, global warming, and climate change. With such a major challenge before us, it can seem daunting and perhaps overwhelming. It is all too easy to lose sight of the fact that our everyday actions can make a difference—especially when we all work together. To see the breathtaking images of Earth Hour 2019, click here.
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