Started by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Earth Hour is a global movement that encourages everyone to come together to switch off non-essential electrical lighting as a symbol of commitment to our planet. This year the event will be held at 8.30pm on Saturday the 25th of March. 

The event originated in Sydney, Australia in 2007 as a collaboration between WWF Australia and the advertising agency Leo Burnett. The aim of the event was to get more Australians involved and engaged with the issues that have arisen due to climate change and the climate emergency. The events in Australia inspired the ‘Lights Out’ event in San Francisco in the same year. That first year saw more than 2.2 million people turn off their lights. 

The original event was the inspiration behind the first international Earth Hour on the 29th of March 2008. This time 35 countries tool part with landmarks such as the Colosseum in Rome and the Sydney Harbour Bridge going dark for the hour. As a result, a Zogby International survey found that there was a 4% increase in the level of interest in environmental issues in the USA. Thailand saw a reduction in electricity usage of 73.34 megawatts over the hour which equates to 41.6 tonnes of CO2. 

The pandemic saw the event move online in 2020. Its popularity had soared and 190 countries and territories took part. Public figures such as UN Secretary General António Guterres, Pope Francis and Greta Thunberg showed their support.   

The theme for 2022 was ‘Shape Our Future’ and it saw representatives from 192 countries and territories come together to call for a safer, fairer and more sustainable future for all. With this level of support, Earth Hour made media headlines globally generating a record-breaking 10.1+ billion social media impressions. It also managed to trend on Twitter and Google in 35 countries. This just goes to show that the climate crisis is real and we have the support to fight it. 

So how can you get involved this year? The simplest way to join is just to switch off all non-essential lights between 8.30pm and 9.30pm on the 25th of March. You could take that time to track your carbon footprint using an app such as WWF’s ‘My Footprint’. 

Or you could get involved with Earth Hour’s ‘The Biggest Hour for Earth’ which encourages us to use the hour for something positive to help the fight against climate change. For more information, click here. 

This event is such an important way to draw everyone’s attention to the climate emergency that we are facing and highlights why it is important that we start caring for the planet we live on. 

So, why not join in on Saturday the 25th of March at 8.30pm?