Earth Hour 2014

I'm sure you've heard of Earth Day, but what about Earth Hour? One sole hour can't make an impact on our planet and communities, you argue. But it can!

You may remember a post last March about a way to unite and empower people around the world regardless of where they live, if not, take a look here.


The Symbol

For one hour, Earth Hour and WWF ask you to turn off the lights -- one simple action that means so much. With the unnecessary lights off the world is silent, slowed, and in it's natural state -- the way is was a mere hundred and fifty years ago. This one small, inspiring action says much more. It is voicing your commitment to the future of our planet. It is participation and action to achieve a more sustainable world. For one hour, light some candles, unplug your coffee machine, hair dryer, and other unnecessary appliances and enjoy the darkness. The ultimate goal however, is to go beyond the hour.

The Burj Khalifa tower (L) in downtown Dubai during Earth Hour 2013. (AFP PHOTO/KARIM SAHIB)

The Movement

The 2007 inaugural Earth Hour was held in Sydney by over 2 million participants. Spreading quickly, in 2008, 371 cities and towns in over 35 countries turned off their lights to conserve power and voice a message about the state of the world's resources and environment. Even a sizable number of television and radio stations suspended regular broadcasting, halted transmissions or turned off the lights in their studio for an hour. National Geographic Channel, Cartoon Network, DhiTV and Villa TV (Maldives), Canal 5 (Mexico) and ABS-CBN (Philippine) were a few of these.

What started as an hour of conservation has turned into a global movement.

In 2011, Beyond The Hour was launched to give supporters a place to share their stories and pledge to do more. And in 2012, the I Will If You Will campaign was launched and more than 200,000 accepted an I Will If You Will challenge. Such challenges included a man would do a polar bear swim if 2,000 people agree to pick up trash by the beach, or Bill and Giuliana would wear Chicago Bears jerseys down the red carpet if 5,000 people commit to Earth Hour.

Over the last few years, dozen of projects have been completed by Earth Hour and WWF from the changing LED lights in the United States to planting half a million trees in the forests of Uganda. Today, Earth Hour Blue is an open source platform that allows people to crowd-fund projects all over the world! You can choose to donate to projects ranging from adopting puppies to train them as be crime fighting dogs, to installing solar lights in India to prevent tigers from entering villages.

The power is yours.


Celebrate Your Commitment To The Planet

On Saturday the 29th of March 2014 from 8:30-9:30pm local time join millions of people who switch off the lights for one hour to raise awareness for the planet. This worldwide grassroots movement, organized by WWF, unites people to protect the planet by engaging a massive mainstream community on a broad range of environmental issues.

For more information on celebrating Earth Hour visit here.

See if your city is one of thousands participating in Earth Hour 2014.