This year’s Earth Hour, an event where people and businesses worldwide turn off lights to raise awareness about climate change, will extend to outer space for the first time. World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the event’s organizer, said the one-hour switch-off will reach the International Space Station (ISS), a habitable artificial satellite in the low earth orbit. Earth Hour astronaut-ambassador Andre Kuipers will be at the ISS to watch over the planet as lights switch off on March 31.
WWF is hoping to make this year’s Earth Hour the “largest environmental celebration in human history” with the help of digital media. Earth Hour founder and executive director Andy Ridley said last year’s event reached 1.8 billion people across the globe. He says that "the state of the planet affects each and every one of us".
PH Earth Hour
Ridley is set to celebrate this year’s Earth Hour in the Philippines, which topped global town and city participation levels for three straight years. Switch-off ceremonies in the country will be held in Makati, Cebu and Davao, although other areas are expected to support the event as well.
At 6:30 p.m., glow-in-the-dark dance troupe Bailes de Luces and the Caracol dancers will lead an Earth-themed parade which will start at the Makati fire station and will end at Ayala Tower One. From there, WWF Philippines national ambassador Rovilson Fernandez will host a program with performances from “Pilipinas Got Talent” Season 3 finalist El Gamma Penumbra and other groups.
In Cebu City, local Sinulog dancers will start a parade at Fuente Osmeña Circle from 5:30 p.m. onwards. Candles will be lit and biodegradable sky lanterns will be released. Meanwhile, in Davao, WWF Philippines national ambassador Marc Nelson will host a program which features a tribal-themed parade around SM Davao at 6:30 p.m. Black-light and fire dancers will also perform specialized routines.
Earth Hour Theme (‘I will if you will’)
The theme for this year’s Earth Hour is “I will if you will” as organizers strive to encourage people to make a promise to help save the environment.
Nelson, an athletic celebrity, has pledged to “swim with sharks in a panda costume and plant trees underwater while munching on a carrot” if 5,000 of his Twitter followers pledge to avoid plastic and instead reuse shopping bags. Fernandez, on the other hand, has pledged to run races clad in a panda costume until next month if 5,000 of WWF Philippines’ 23,000 online fans will use the stairs instead of the elevator for a full month.
Other pledges include letting children play video games longer over the summer break if they remember to turn off the lights and fans when leaving the room, and recycling if friends promise to switch to energy-efficient bulbs.
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