Posted by Jamie in Climate Change, Green Leaders, Green Products & Services | 0 Comments
Earth Hour 2009 a global hit
Who knew that turning your lights off for one hour could go a long way for the environment?
Apparently, many people do now because on March 28, 2009, an unprecedented 1 billion people from all around the world participated in the most decisive global action for climate change yet. From the solar-powered houses in the island countries of the Pacific, through the shimmering landmarks in Europe and Asia, to the brightly illuminated skylines of New York, London, Paris and Australia, the world gave Mother Earth a one-hour reprieve from the harmful effects of CO2 emissions that result to global warming when it celebrated Earth Hour 2009.
A local idea turned global
Earth Hour originated in Australia, one of the countries hardest hit by climate change. It was in early 2007 when this global event was conceived by World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in Australia and the Sydney Morning Herald, as a campaign to combat the world’s most prominent threat: global warming. During the first celebration of Earth Hour in Australia, the reduction in energy use doubled that of expected 5% and recorded an impressive 10.2% according to Energy Australia. This represented a reduction of 25 tons in carbon emissions.
Since then, Earth Hour is observed annually every last Saturday of March by encouraging all households and business establishments to turn off electric-powered lamps and appliances for an hour in an effort to help increase efforts directed towards climate change. WWF targeted the observance of Earth Hour 2009 on six continents.
Surpassing expectations
The World Wildlife Fund, organizer of the event, had hoped 1,000 cities would join Earth Hour’s global call to action on climate change. And yet, more than 4,000 cities and 88 countries joined this year, ten times more than Earth Hour 2008 that had 400 cities as participants.
Governments massed up their citizens in observance of the event. This year, the Philippines topped the Earth Hour participation as 647 cities and towns, or over 15 million Filipinos, were estimated to have joined in the hour-long lights-off at 8:30 – 9:30 PM local time. This was followed by Greece with 484 cities and towns participating, and Australia with 309.
Was it worth it?
Designed as a campaign to increase citizen awareness on the environment, particularly climate change, a website monitoring the international observances, earthhour.org, found that many have grown curious about the topic, based on the 6.7 million visitors it registered one week leading to Earth Hour. An online survey registered a 4% point increase in climate change awareness after the worldwide event.
