The spectacular sight of darkened cities has been symbolizing the debt we owe to nature: we, the human race, act careless and destructive way too many times, not even thinking of the possible consequences.
In 2007, the lights were turned off in Sidney, Australia for the first time, symbolizing that despite of all the horrible mistakes mankind has made to harm Mother Nature, people do care about the planet. Since then, Earth Hour became a worldwide movement, encouraging all of us to turn off the non-essential lights for 60 minutes, saluting that beautiful globe of ours.
Earth Hour is organized by WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) and this year, the annual event will take place between 8:30 PM and 9:30 PM on 25 March with more than 178 countries taking action all around the world. The new “60+” logo represents that we shall not only care for the planet on that exact day for just about 60 minutes, but try our best to live much more consciously when it comes to the level of energy consumption in our everyday lives and our general attitude towards environmental protection.
As the lights go out on that one particular spring day in March, having more than 6500 cities embrace the dark night sky, we might understand that the message of the movement has become increasingly important during the times when we face the effect of climate change, pollution and harmful human activities more often than ever. It really is more than just a gesture: it should urge us to take the necessary precautions in our own micro environment because however small a step it may seem, that’s where the real change begins: switch off the light if you leave the room, don’t leave them on in the kitchen or the bathroom while you run out to do some quick shopping, don’t use three lamps in the same room if one is enough. These all seem so ridiculously simple, almost meaningless actions, but trust the fact, that if we all pay attention to such tiny details, we could easily save tons and tons of energy, lengthening our children’s and grandchildren’s lives on this planet.
Join the movement at www.earthhour.org!
