EARTH HOUR: SWITCH OFF on 27th March between 8: 30 and 9:30 PM

Earth Hour – a stand against climate change

By:Sanjay Agrawal
Voice of Sikkim


Earth Hour - a stand against climate change
23 March, Gangtok: Earth Hour is a global call to action to every individual, business, school and community to take a stand against climate change. It started in the year 2007 in Sydney and went global the following year in 2008 symbolising solidarity of people around the globe. It is an initiative of WWF, and the logo of earth hour says 60 denoting 60 minutes of lights off.

While many of us debate the futility of switching off the lights for one hour, the objective of Earth Hour lies not primarily in the energy saved but rather the message that it conveys. -Nationally, a message to policy makers that we need to shift to low carbon development
Globally, a message that India is vulnerable to impacts of climate change and that it demands concrete measures to fight it

Last year in 2009, 4088 cities and towns participated- from Sydney to Washington and New Delhi to New York. Across 88 countries and 7 continents including Antartica, people came together to observe this event. Among major icons dimmed in support were the Sydney Opera House, Rome’s Coliseum, Eiffel Tower, Christ the Redeemer, Rio
Antarctica’s Scott Station, Empire State Building in NYC, Dome of the Capitol in Washington DC, The Pyramids, The Sphinx, Big Ben, Acropolis, Bird Nest in China and in India – Old Fort, Safdarjung Tomb, Qutab Minar, CST Mumbai and many more.

Earth Hour 2010 has gotten bigger. 118 countries have already committed to observe the event, with millions of supporters on social media. More than 6000 cities around the globe are already on board.

This year Earth Hour is on Saturday 27th March, 2010. It is the night of the equinox with equal day light and night time. Here is what’s happening on EH the world over -
 New Zealand’s Chatham Islands will be the first territory to start Earth Hour with the last country to take part being the South Pacific island of Samoa 24 ¾ hours later.
 The main street in Santa Cruz on the Galapagos island will be candle-lit for the hour.
 Hotel chains Four Seasons, Intercontinental, Hilton, Shangri-la and Fairmont are taking part in EH in countries around the world.
 Three of the world’s most northern cities Murmansk (Russia), Hammerfest (Norway) and Nuuk (Greenland) will be joining three of the world’s most southern cities Hobart (Australia) Ushuaia (Argentina) and Queenstown for EH.
 More than 20 state Governors have signed up to WWF’s EH in the US.
 Hundreds of Zimbabwean children will be holding a candle-lit picnic at Victoria Falls for EH.
Earth Hour has done a lot to raise awareness on climate change issues. It is being called as the greatest climate action taken. So now’s the time to take a stand and give world leaders the mandate they need to make the right climate deal. And it all begins with a flick of a switch – SHOW YOUR CONCERN for the planet-
SWITCH OFF on 27th March between 8: 30 and 9:30 PM