Friday, 19 March 2010 09:54 | and posted in News
Turn out your lights! At 8.30pm on Saturday 27th March millions of people across the globe will be turning out their lights as a show of solidarity against climate change. From Sydney to Argentina to Bahrain, buildings will be in darkness for an hour.
It’s easy to do - you just pledge to switch off your lights and then on Saturday 27th March at 8.30pm you turn off your lights! And then leave them off for an hour. Simple.
Earth Hour was started in 2007 and organised by WWF (World Wildlife Fund). You can visit their UK Earth Hour site here: http://earthhour.wwf.org.uk/.
If you want to be extra clever then you can switch off other electrical appliances too; computers, mobile phones, the TV. You can also get your friends on board, or email your MP to turn off their lights too.
As well as raising awareness of the damaging effects that climate change is having and will have on our planet, one hour without lights saves a lot of energy. Bangkok for example, saved around 41.6 tonnes of CO2 during Earth Hour last year.
In 2009, 88 countries and 4,088 cities participated, businesses and councils as well as individuals. The lights were put out on many prominent landmarks across the world including the Sydney Opera House, the Empire State Building, the Colosseum and Edinburgh Castle. Google turned black for the day. Some TV networks stopped broadcasting. It’s a global action that is just getting bigger each year.
To date over five and a half million supporters in over 100 countries have signed up. Be a part of it and join them!