Tomorrow 26 March at 8.30 pm local time, millions of people around the world will be switching off their lights and electricity appliances in a show of solidarity for Mother Earth as part of Earth Hour, a campaign to increase awareness of global climate change.
The awareness and participation in Earth hour is growing each year also in Slovakia, and the hope is that people will go beyond this symbolic 1 hour and start thinking and behaving more rationally. Swedish chain IKEA is one of the strong supporters of the idea, and so it will be switching off its lights at its store in Bratislava. During the one hour of lights off, IKEA will be showing customers ways to save energy, also with special games and competitions.
IKEA announced an interesting fact that if every customer of IKEA throughout the world were to switch to 11 watt energy saving light bulbs instead of the old classic 60 watt ones, it would be equivalent to cutting down the CO2 emissions of an astonishing 750,000 cars.
Earth Hour was started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia when 2.2 million people and more than 2,000 businesses turned their lights off for one hour to take a stand against climate change. Just one year later and Earth Hour had become a global sustainability movement with more than 50 million people across 35 countries taking part.
Global landmarks such as the Sydney Harbour Bridge, CN Tower in Toronto, Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, and Rome’s Colosseum, all stood in darkness, as symbols of hope for a cause that grows more urgent by the hour.
In March 2009, hundreds of millions of people took part in the third Earth Hour. Over 4000 cities in 88 countries/territories officially switched off to pledge their support for the planet, making Earth Hour 2009 the world’s largest global climate change initiative.
On Saturday 27 March, Earth Hour 2010 became the biggest Earth Hour ever. A record 128 countries and territories joined the global display of climate action. Iconic buildings and landmarks from Asia Pacific to Europe and Africa to the Americas switched off. People across the world from all walks of life turned off their lights and came together in celebration and contemplation of the one thing we all have in common – our planet.
Earth Hour 2011 will take place on Saturday 26 March at 8.30PM (local time). This Earth Hour we want you to go beyond the hour, so after the lights go back on think about what else you can do to make a difference. Together our actions add up.
You can visit Beyond the Hour platform to share your stories and to get inspiration from the actions our supporters have shared with us already.
What pathetic, pointless feeble gesture politics. We may be f*cking up the climate of the planet, so we’ll turn the lights off for one hour. How about this. Turn the lights off on the President’s Palace and keep them off PERMANENTLY. I for one dont want to pay for it and feel sure the President will still be able to see ok, given that he doesnt live there.
I understand your rag Raging Badger, all too little is being done and most people don’t even perceive it as a problem. At least the new government cut down the massive electricity consumption for lighting up Bratislava Castle.