Earth Hour

Earth Hour is a global campaign organized by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to encourage individuals, companies and governments to turn their lights off for an hour to demonstrate that they have taken a stand against climate change.

This campaign has three objectives:

1. To spread public awareness of global climate change
2. To encourage people all over the world to save energy and other natural resources
3. To ensure the signing of an effective post Kyoto protocol, which world leaders and climate negotiators agreed to consider at the UN climate talks in Copenhagen in December 2009.

The Earth Hour logo, “60”, signifies the 60 minutes which the campaign is asking people to devote to their planet. WWF’s initiative has been supported by thousands of organizations and millions of people around the world. Although a 60-minute black-out cannot do much for the environment on its own, the campaign is meant to encourage people to think more about energy saving.

Participants are allowed to decide for themselves which electronic equipment they turn off, but the organizers recommend turning off all non-essential items.

The first Earth Hour was held in Sydney, Australia, in March 2007. The next year, over 50 million people turned off lights in more than 270 cities across 35 countries.

Russia officially joined the event in 2009. The campaign was observed across the entire country, from the Arctic city of Murmansk to the Pacific port of Vladivostok.

During past Earth Hours, lights have been turned off at Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, the Table Mountain in Cape Town, the Federation Tower in Moscow, the Sydney Opera House, and the world’s tallest building, Taipei 101, in Taiwan.