By: Barnali Bose, Editor-ICN
Earth Hour, March 24,2018 : The countdown gains momentum
The birth of the concept of Earth Hour:
KOLKATA : Earth Hour, a symbolic grassroots movement was first initiated in Australia by the World Wildlife Fund For Nature (WWF) to protest human activity driven carbon dioxide emissions, resulting in global warming.
‘Earth Hour’ was famously started as a “lights out “event in Sydney, Australia on March 31, 2007 by switching off non-essential lights from 7.30pm for an hour.
How a local action spread worldwide :
Earth Hour 2008 was held internationally on March 29, 2008 from 8 pm to 9 pm local time, marking the first anniversary of the event. Thirty five countries around the world participated as official flagship cities and over 400 cities also supported.
Observance of The Earth Hour in India :
It was in 2009 that India joined the Earth Hour movement when 5 million Indians across 56 cities showed their support by switching off non-essential lights and saving approximately 1,000 MW of power in one hour.
In 2012, the movement witnessed the biggest ever public participation in India, where hundred and fifty cities and 10,00,000 students volunteered to take part in the event.
New Delhi was announced as India’s Earth Hour National Capital 2013 in WWF’s Earth Hour City Challenge. As part of the initiative, dance performances, candlelit marches, musical evenings and signature campaigns were organised.
For the last couple of years now, Rajkot has forged resolutely ahead in the sectors of renewable energy and sustainable development, winning the much coveted title.
Celebration of the tenth Anniversary of The Earth Hour:
2017 marked the 10th anniversary of the event, in which people from 7,000 cities in 172 countries expressed their solidarity. Across the world, many iconic structures,business houses and universities supported the event by dimming their lights from 8.30 pm to 9.30 pm on the 25th March.
Some examples include the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, London’s Big Ben and Houses of Parliament, the Colosseum in Rome, Istanbul’s Blue Mosque, the Eiffel Tower, Moscow’s Kremlin and Red Square and the Pyramids of Egypt.
In India, noteworthy was the participation of Gateway of India, Mumbai, India Gate in New Delhi, the Howrah Bridge in Kolkata, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station in Mumbai and the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.
The Earth Hour, 2018:
This year, Earth Hour will be observed on Saturday, 24 March from 8:30-9:30pm. WWF-India is launching the ‘Give Up to Give Back’ initiative to encourage us to give the planet a chance to revive.
In simple words, ‘giving up‘ is about making those choices that will make our planet home more livable.
You can do this by :
- Switching off all non-essential lights from 8:30pm-9:30pm on Saturday, 24 March 2018.
- Making a commitment to give up on practices that are not environment friendly.
- Endorsing the programme on your social media and tagging WWF on facebook instagram and twitter
- Pledging to make every hour ‘Earth Hour’ in its truest sense.
- Sincerely asking yourself, “Do I deserve redemption or retribution from Mother Earth? “
John Keats,the renowned English poet had once said, “ The poetry of the earth is never dead.” Dear fellow beings of Mother Earth, may this quote not be proved wrong by us. Come let us join hands to enable the earth resonate with the rhythm of life now and in the days to come. May we,in future not need to affix one hour,every year to ‘Earth hour’.
