WHAT IS EARTH HOUR?
The Earth Hour movement is a global unifying action that symbolises our collective and ongoing dedication to protecting our planet.
This involves an annual ‘lights out’ event organised by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) organisation, where people from all parts of the world are encouraged to turn off their lights on a predetermined date towards the end of March.
HOW DID IT BEGIN?
Earth Hour’s concept was created by Andy Ridley in 2007 to educate Australians on the climate crisis and encourage people to show their support for climate action.
Since then, Earth Hour has evolved from a local grassroots movement to a globally recognised international campaign with millions of individuals from over 185 countries taking part.
The uncertainty created by COVID-19 forced Earth Hour 2020 to become completely digital. As a result, online social platforms such as TikTok and Instagram are exponentially fuelling the campaign’s global growth – leading to the campaign gaining the largest online following since its launch 15 years ago.
WHAT DIFFERENCE WILL IT MAKE?
While the ‘lights out’ event may lead to energy and carbon reduction, WWF emphasises that the campaign is primarily a symbolic action.
The globally unifying action of switching off our lights represents the collective awareness of our climate crisis and our ongoing dedication to protecting our planet.
It also serves as an annual reminder to continue our commitment to protecting the planet and to actively address the evolving environmental threats.
This creates an opportunity for us to start the crucial conversations we need to have about how to fix our escalating environmental crisis – leading to far-reaching impacts.
HOW DO I GET INVOLVED?
Taking part is as simple as turning off your lights.
The global campaign encourages individuals and organisations, from all parts of the world, to switch off all non-essential lighting for one hour during a pre-planned collective time of action.
In Aotearoa New Zealand, Earth Hour was held on March 27th at 8:30 pm – did you switch-off?
BEYOND EARTH HOUR…
As the objective of the campaign is to ‘get us started’, we need to continue with our commitments to a better planet.
Below are a few simple actions you can incorporate into your daily life to help you get started:
Did you participate in Earth Hour this year?
If you missed out on Earth Hour, don’t worry because Earth Day is happening Thursday, April 22nd.
Learn how to get involved with Earth Day here: https://www.earthday.org/earth…
To find out how Earth Hour 2021 was record-breaking, head to https://www.earthhour.org/
You can learn more from WWF and Sir David Attenborough about How to Save Our Planet here.
As we embark on a new financial year, All Heart NZ is poised at the threshold of a transformative period. Our leadership team, recognizing the pivotal moment, recently dedicated an entire day to strategic planning.
A couple of months have elapsed since an event that instilled an immense sense of pride and joy across the All Heart NZ team.
It’s with a spirit of celebration that All Heart NZ presents our first impact report of the year, a testament to the meaningful strides in sustainability and community enrichment we’ve achieved together.
