WWF-UK: Earth Hour is a global success
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Earth Hour is a global success
Friday 4 April 2008
Millions globally signalled a new awareness of climate change by turning off their lights for an hour - Earth Hour - last Saturday night.
"Earth Hour is WWF's global event started to encourage businesses, communities and individuals to take the simple steps needed to cut their emissions on an ongoing basis," said Andy Ridley, the man who came up with the idea and who is now the International Director of WWF's Earth Hour.
"It is about simple changes that will collectively make a difference. By Earth Hour 2009, on March 28 next year, we expect more people will have incorporated simple energy efficient solutions into their homes and workplace. It's vital we keep the momentum going for a greener, more sustainable future," he added.
From Antarctica to Highgrove House
World landmarks, from the Sydney Opera House to San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, Rome's Colosseum and Bangkok's Wat Arun Rajawarahrahm Pagoda all disappeared into the night sky. Even Australia's Casey Research Base on Antarctica got involved.
In the UK, more than 30 local authorities and communities took part with buildings like City Hall in London, the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth, Prince Charles' Highgrove House and Cardiff University joining in.
Across six continents
People congregated in parks and at community festivities, while some simply took the opportunity to appreciate the star-filled skies, free of the blight of light pollution. At a host of Earth Hour concerts, such as one featuring Nelly Furtado in Toronto, it was the acoustic, not the electric guitar that took centre stage, and a major concert in Tel Aviv, attended by 40,000 people, was powered by a mixture of cyclists and a bio-diesel generator.
Officially, nearly 30 major cities across six continents participated in WWF's Earth Hour and in total more than 370 cities and towns signed up to support the event. More importantly, around the world millions of others voted informally with their fingers, by switching off lights to show their support for global action on climate change.
WWF would like to thank everyone who took part and hopes that 2009 - which with the UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen set to take place, is a crucial year for tackling climate change - will be even bigger.
"It is about simple changes that will collectively make a difference. By Earth Hour 2009, on March 28 next year, we expect more people will have incorporated simple energy efficient solutions into their homes and workplace. It's vital we keep the momentum going for a greener, more sustainable future," he added.
From Antarctica to Highgrove House
World landmarks, from the Sydney Opera House to San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, Rome's Colosseum and Bangkok's Wat Arun Rajawarahrahm Pagoda all disappeared into the night sky. Even Australia's Casey Research Base on Antarctica got involved.
In the UK, more than 30 local authorities and communities took part with buildings like City Hall in London, the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth, Prince Charles' Highgrove House and Cardiff University joining in.
Across six continents
People congregated in parks and at community festivities, while some simply took the opportunity to appreciate the star-filled skies, free of the blight of light pollution. At a host of Earth Hour concerts, such as one featuring Nelly Furtado in Toronto, it was the acoustic, not the electric guitar that took centre stage, and a major concert in Tel Aviv, attended by 40,000 people, was powered by a mixture of cyclists and a bio-diesel generator.
Officially, nearly 30 major cities across six continents participated in WWF's Earth Hour and in total more than 370 cities and towns signed up to support the event. More importantly, around the world millions of others voted informally with their fingers, by switching off lights to show their support for global action on climate change.
WWF would like to thank everyone who took part and hopes that 2009 - which with the UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen set to take place, is a crucial year for tackling climate change - will be even bigger.
"It's vital we keep the momentum going for a greener, more sustainable future."
Andy Ridley, International Director of WWF's Earth Hour
What else you can do
- See images from Earth Hour 2008 and sign up for Earth Hour 2009
- Visit our One Planet Future campaign website
- Find out What you can do
- Support our call for a stronger Climate Change Bill
- Measure your footprint