Across the world, lights were turned off for one hour between 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. on March 24.

 

Known as “Earth Hour,” this campaign was started in Australia in 2007 by the World Wide Fund for Nature (World Wildlife Fund, WWF), a non governmental conservation organization. It first began as a way to get citizens engaged in environmental issues, specifically climate change.

 

Since then, it has steadily grown into an international campaign. In 2008, 38 countries participated. In 2009, 88 countries casted their “vote” to work toward ending climate change. By 2011, every continent was involved and over 100 countries participated. That trend has continued until this day, with 188 countries participating this past Saturday, according to WWF.

 

This year, a record breaking 18,000 monuments and landmarks turned off their unnecessary lights. The event’s two hashtags, #earthour and #connect2earth, were seen trending in 33 countries. These hashtags and closely related ones were generated 3.5 billion times this year on social media across the globe.

 

Marco Lambertini, Director General of WWF International, said in a statement released on Earth Hour’s website, “The record participation in this year’s Earth Hour, from skylines to timelines, is a powerful reminder that people want to connect to Earth. People are demanding commitment now on halting climate change and the loss of nature. The stakes are high and we need urgent action to protect the health of the planet for a safe future for us and all life on Earth.”

 

Earth Hour is now observed all over the globe in almost every country. This campaign was organized to raise awareness for climate change and create a sense of unity between countries and people who strive to better our impact on the environment.

 

Some critics state that the reduction in energy consumption during this one hour is insignificant. However, organizers believe that this hour is much more than reducing energy consumption for a short time, it’s about raising awareness of human’s detrimental impact on our environment and encouraging people to make changes throughout their daily lives. These changes can include turning the light out when leaving a room, turn off running water while not directly in use, using more reusable containers instead of one-use plastics, and so much more.

 

To address this, organizers changed the Earth Hour logo from “60,” referring to the 60 minutes in which lights are shut off, to “60+,” indicating that this is simply the first step in the fight for our environment.

 

"The science is clear: the loss of nature is a global crisis. Wildlife has declined by close to 60 per cent in just over 40 years. Our planet is at a crossroads and we cannot have a prosperous future on a depleted, degraded planet. Together as a global community we can turn things around. People must mobilize and join governments and companies toward stronger action on biodiversity and nature - the time to act is now,” said Lambertini.

 

Major monuments around the world turned off or dimmed their lights during the hour, all at 8:30 in their respective time zone. Some of these monuments included the Buckingham Palace, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Big Ben in London, Sydney's Opera House, the National Stadium in Beijing, Kuala Lumpur’s Petronas Towers, Rome’s Colosseum, as well as countless more.