Originally coined as “The Big Flick”, Earth Hour was developed between the WWF (World Wide Fund for nature) and a Sydney advertising agency in 2007 as a means of engaging Australians “on the issue of climate change” with the inaugural Earth Hour running in Sydney on March 31 of that year.
A roaring success with an excess of two million Sydneysiders, and 2,200 Sydney businesses
getting involved, this revolutionary event inspired the same movement some 11,940km away in the city of San Francisco California when San Franciscans too switched off for their “Lights Out” program in the October.
With the influence of Sydney and San Francisco’s events spreading across the globe, the undeniable appeal of such an event soon had the world on board with 400 cities across 35 countries committing to the event as soon as 2008.
And so Earth Hour was truly born. From the east coast of Australia to the USA, Denmark, the Philippines and Isreal, Earth Hour was the catalyst for many a conversation, as world famous landmarks were plunged into darkness and families of all nationalities gathered by candlelight.
This simple act of switching off our lights was the means for switching on our awareness of those small creature comforts that we take for granted, while our planet bears the weight, day in and day out.
Now in its 11th year, Earth Hour has proven it is as strong as ever with 187 countries across the globe joining the event on 24 March 2018.
In darkened and peaceful solidarity, the world stood still for one hour while our planet took a moment to breathe.
Here in 2018, global temperatures have peaked at the highest ever recorded and the list of our precious flora and fauna species at risk of extinction continues to grow.
Something needs to be done and it starts right here with us.
Annual events such as Earth Hour are so very vital in giving this precious rock we live on a moments valuable relief as well as starting conversations that we are in dire need of having… our challenge is to continue this conversation and continue the change for the other 364 days of the year.
