Earth Hour 2009: The giant switch off
26 March 2009
I'll be completely honest, when I first heard about Earth Hour, I wasn't won over. The idea of encouraging individuals to switch off at a collective time during the day seemed like a completely implausible campaign action. It's not that I'm pessimistic, but just think, one house on one street in one of the many hundreds of towns, in our small country going lights down? I found it hard to think anyone would notice. After all, there are so many houses on so many streets in millions of towns across the globe, the majority of which will undoubtedly just stay on. I thought.
Oh I was so wrong! So sure, in it's first year (2007) Earth Hour wasn't even global. It started as a local action led by WWF in Sydney, but even then for a local action - it was massive. Over 2 million people took part.
Within a year Earth Hour went global. The results were profound - over 50 million people switched off for an hour. And we're not just talking individuals, whole streets held candle-lit street parties, entire campuses of students dimming down in their halls, local councils getting on board and flicking the switch, plus some of the worlds largest cities most illuminated landmarks plunging themselves into darkness, all to join in the global statement for voting Earth.
So this year there's no holding back. Now joined by the UN Secretary General himself, Ban Ki Moon, as well as other highly influential global organisations such as EU, UEFA, and the Olympics, Earth Hour is looking to reach an incredible 1 billion people this Saturday at 8.30pm.
Good ideas are certainly hard to come by, but with something so simple it seems silly not to take part. Whether it's just you on your own, a group of family and friend, or joining in at one of the large-scale switch off's (Big Ben being one of many around the UK) - then it's yours for the taking.
This year, more than ever, we need to show collectively that global civil society want action on climate change - and I can't think of a better way to do it than Earth Hour.
Guppi Bola, Oxfam Campaigner
