Earth Hour was initiated in 2007, in Sydney, Australia, with 2.2 million homes and businesses turning their lights off for one hour. Considering that March 28, 2009 marked only the third Earth Hour celebration, and the 2nd global Earth Hour event, the numbers are staggering. Participation soared, from 400 cities in 2008 to 4,085 registered cities, in 88 countries this year.
This amazing momentum is predominantly a legacy of the Internet, in the age of social media, propelled by the World Wildlife Fund online, organized at the grassroots level, with the call to action spread by way of email, Twitter and Facebook. Facebook currently lists over 500 groups honoring Earth Hour, some with thousands of members. Posts range from tips on how to spend an hour in the dark, and serious discussions of the issue of Global warming, to the occasional skeptic promising to turn all their lights ON for Earth Hour.
Worldwide, the Philippines boasts the most participating cities in 2009, registering 650; Greece placed second with 484; and Australia, the home of Earth Hour, came in third with 309. In the US at least 250 cities voted earth, in scale from New York City to a village in Alaska with a population of 53. China participated for the first time, turning the lights off at Beijing’s Bird’s Nest Stadium and the 2008 Olympic venue, Water Cube.
The United Nations also observed Earth Hour for the fist time, at its headquarters in New York and at other UN facilities around the world. The UN has a pivotal role in this year’s Earth Hour, VOTE EARTH initiative, as the results of this campaign will be presented at the Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, in December 2009, where world leaders will meet to draft official government policies to replace the Kyoto Protocol. This year’s event came just one day before the start of the first of three UN Climate Change sessions leading up to the Copenhagen summit.
Earth Hour’s chosen date, one week after the vernal equinox, when night and day are the same length in both hemispheres, provides the essential nighttime backdrop across the globe at 8:30 p.m.
Earth Hour organizers hoped that focus on the global economic crisis wouldn’t dim the enthusiasm for this year’s Earth Hour. It is clear that the citizens of the world put those concerns aside for at least an hour to VOTE EARTH. U.N. Secretary Ban Ki-moon defined Earth Hour as “a way for the citizens of the world to send a clear message: They want action on climate change.”
Though Earth Hour may mainly be a symbolic act, Carter Roberts, the head of WWF points out that, “history is littered with symbolic acts that became tipping points.”
For great photos of world landmarks during Earth Hour, visit http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/03/earth_hour_2009.html
