Earth Hour (26/03)

Time for Earth Hour 2024 — March 23 from 20:30 to 21:30 local time.

Earth Hour — is a global annual international event organized by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)*, which is held annually on one of the last Saturdays in March. It lies in the fact that on this day, at the appointed time, people in different countries of the world turn off lights and other electrical appliances for one hour.

The purpose of the — campaign is to attract the widest possible attention of the world community to the problem of climate change on Earth, to show its support for the idea of the need for united action in solving environmental problems.

«Earth Hour» — is, first of all, a symbolic action of respect for nature, a public call for decisive measures to preserve the planet’s climate and concern for its limited resources.

According to scientists, by 2003 the impact of human activities on the planet’s ecosystems had increased so much that if modern trends continue, then by 2050 people will need a second planet to meet humanity’s needs for energy, water, food, and waste storage... Therefore, the problem of resource conservation must be solved together and at various levels, and with today's action, every person anywhere in the world can demonstrate their concern about the problem of depletion of natural resources and «vote» for a healthy planet.

The idea of turning off electricity for an hour to demonstrate solidarity in the fight for environmental protection was first implemented by the WWF in 2007 on a one-city scale – Sydney (Australia). The very next year, this event was supported by the general community (more than 100 million people in 35 countries joined the action), becoming an international environmental initiative. Since then, the action has increasingly gained momentum, and more and more people, cities and countries are participating in it.

Today Earth Hour — is the largest environmental campaign on the planet. More than 2 billion people around the world from 190 countries are taking part in it, where the lighting of more than 18,000 architectural monuments goes out.

Russia officially joined the action in 2009 — more than 20 Russian cities took part in it, and in 2011 — 11 million Russians. In 2017, Earth Hour became the largest in the history of the event: 150 Russian cities joined the action, since then from 16 to 20 million people take part in it annually.

Moreover, the action involves both millions of ordinary citizens and thousands of organizations around the world. Since this is an absolutely voluntary action, people themselves decide how many and what electrical appliances they will turn off, and city authorities initiate turning off the lighting of city facilities. For safety reasons, the organizers of the event do not recommend turning off street lighting, air navigation lights and traffic lights.

Therefore, every year, electricity is turned off for exactly one hour at a variety of sites, including dozens of attractions around the world. For example, during the event in recent years, more than a thousand outstanding monuments turn off their lighting, including the — «Empire State Building» (New York), « Golden Gate Bridge» (San Francisco), Colosseum (Rome), Opera House (Sydney), Buddhist temple «Wat-Arun» (Bangkok), Royal Palace (Stockholm), City Hall (London), Eiffel Tower (Paris), Acropolis (Athens) and many others. In Moscow, the lighting of the Moscow State University building on Vorobyovy Gory, the «Luzhniki» sports complex, the Shabolovskaya TV tower, the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences and other — facilities in total are turned off. And in St. Petersburg, bridges, the Winter Palace, Palace Square, and the Peter and Paul Fortress are plunged into darkness...

By the way, in Russia, in many cities, as part of the «Earth Hour» campaign, they not only turn off the lighting of buildings, but also hold numerous events — glowing bike rides, fire shows, launching glowing balls, lectures, tea drinking by candlelight, master– classes, environmental lessons for schoolchildren, competitions and festivals.

Saving electricity will reduce harmful emissions into the atmosphere and enable every person to contribute to maintaining the health of the planet (Photo: Gilles Lougassi, licensed by Shutterstock.com)

Although, of course, an hour-long blackout in itself cannot significantly improve the environmental situation on Earth, this action, according to the organizers, will help many people understand that saving electricity will ultimately reduce harmful emissions into the atmosphere and enable every caring person to contribute to preserving the health of the planet. Today, «Earth Hour» is the largest public event in human history.

It is also worth saying that until 2011, the logo of the action looked like «60» — that is, 60 minutes that people devote to planet Earth, taking measures to combat climate change. But «Earth Hour» — is much more than turning off the lights for one hour once a year, so since 2011 the logo looks like «60+», which means calling on participants to go beyond the boundaries of one hour and take another step for the sake of the planet, for example, start saving water, use public transport more often instead of a personal car, be careful with water, save and hand over waste paper. Or take part in various environmental campaigns and actions carried out by environmental and environmental organizations and foundations.

* – In March 2023, the Russian Ministry of Justice added the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF, formerly called the World Wildlife Fund) to the list of foreign agents

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