When Earth Hour was celebrated on the 28th of last month, the city of Delhi saved 600 MW of electricity - the highest in any Metro city in India - just by switching off non-essential lights. In terms of Carbon emissions, it was as if 2.3 million small cars were taken off the road. It was thus decided by the Chief Minister of Delhi that the Earth Hour will be celebrated every month in the city, and 22nd April - the Earth Day was appropriately chosen to be the day for this month.
Earth Day this year was also a landmark event for the city. Delhi faces several environmental issues most of which are actually the challenges of a rapidly evolving capital city of a country which is developing at an equal pace. Trees being cut almost every day, a polluted river only getting worse, the mobility crisis and the inequity, vehicular pollution and unplanned urban planning are all issues faced by citizens who wanted a solution to these by having a say in the decision making and access to basic information.
As a green leader or entrepreneur, the day begs the question, what will you be doing?
In a mad public relations world that anchors on events as a tangible “touch point” in lieu of diving into the messier (and harder to track or control) world of ‘awareness’, Earth Day is one of many symbols (i.e. polar bears) we use when speaking to some of the starker and concrete practices of the planet’s ecological anxieties.
On March 28, 2009, 3,922 cities in 88 countries around the world turned out or dimmed their lights in commemoration of Earth Hour. Organizers hoped for 1 billion participants to turn out their lights, sending a message to world leaders in anticipation of the Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen 2009 that there is global interest in addressing climate change. The event followed similar, smaller Earth Hour events in 2007 and 2008. Here, selected and compiled from the Earth HourMedia Library, are 12 around the world before and after photos of Earth Hour 2009, plus two freebies at the end.
But as the hour-long public display of unity cascaded through the timezones, not everyone was buying-in and Fox News was determined to give facetime to anyone who wasn’t.
Reminder: Earth Hour occurs on Saturday, March 28th at 8:30pm (that’s TODAY people). Individuals, families, business, politicians, film sets and YOU can participate by turning all the lights off for 60 minutes (anyone can handle that, right?).
How much can just one hour of energy savings do for hour planet?
- 284 Canadian cities and municipalities participating
- 3249 cities and towns in 84 countries across all seven continents prepare to unite for Earth Hour
- 829 icons and landmarks around the world to switch off lights in support of climate change action
It might seem like an insignificant amount of time in the large scheme of things but the impact on the planet is potentially huge. Earth hour is an opportunity for the citizens of the world to send a clear message that they want to take action on climate change.
Earth Hour is Saturday, March 28th. Are you participating? Are you planning? If you’ve already signed up for Earth Hour, you’ve got two things left to do. Prepare to power down and plan what you’ll be doing from 8:30 to 9:30 PM.
Powering Down
Earth Hour is about turning off the lights for one hour. It may seem like just a little thing, but when everyone does it at once, the results are impressive. Look at a few statistics from 2008’s Earth Hour.
Chicago kept 840,000 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.
In Toronto, there was an 8.7% reduction in energy.
A 10.1% energy drop occurred in energy usage.
Those numbers can be even more impressive if we do more than just turn off the lights. Powering down everything non-essential in your home can reduce your energy usage even further.
Across the globe, restaurants, businesses, residents and municipalities are marking Saturday, March 28th, 2009 on their calendars.
Why? At 8:30pm on that date, the lights go out.
It may sound like the beginning of a horror movie (or the rolling “brownouts” we suffered a few years ago here in LA) but this time it’s on purpose. This time, it’s a blackout with a message (read in deep, movie announcer voice).
Earth Hour, a worldwide effort to bring attention to the dangers of climate change, is inspiring people to vote for progress with their light switches and remotes by turning of all nonessential lights and appliances in their houses and businesses for an hour.
Earth Day is coming up next month on April 22nd, what better way to get warmed up for Earth Day, then by participating in Earth Hour? Earth Hour 2009 is scheduled for March 28, 2009 from 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm local time, and participants are encouraged to turn off all their lights for one hour. Over 74 countries and states have already publicly declared their support for Earth Hour, and reports that the numbers continue to grow daily.
Earthhour.org has a petition for participants to sign as well local information regarding the event in your area. The Earth Hour website also has news and background information of the origins of this demonstration of collective environmental will.
