Edinburgh Castle in Edinburgh, Scotland. Photo by Maverick/Earth Hour
Thousands of people around the world are expected to join landmarks and go dark for Earth Hour tomorrow, to raise awareness about the need to take action on climate change.
Earth Hour 2013 takes place from 8.30-9.30pm on 23 March, and people and organisations in more than 150 countries and territories will be turning off non-essential lights for the hour.
On the eve of the seventh Earth Hour today, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said everyone has a role to play in tackling climate change.
“Governments need to provide the political will, businesses can contribute solutions, and civil society, especially young people, can mobilise global action,” he said. “Together, let’s do our part and shed light on common-sense answers for a cleaner, greener world.”
New places around the world joining Earth Hour for the first time this year are Palestine, Tunisia, Galapagos, Suriname, French Guyana, St Helena and Rwanda.
Some of the landmarks set to descend into darkness for an hour tomorrow include the Sydney Opera House, The Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, The Gateway of India, the Eiffel Tower, the Brandenburg Gate, the UK Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, the Empire State Building, Niagara Falls, the CN Tower, and Los Angeles International Airport.
Ireland has no official plans to darken any of its buildings for the event this year – despite recently having bathed many buildings in green light for St Patrick’s Day celebrations – because Government support has ceased, Newstalk reported.
Organisers of Earth Hour, an initiative of WWF, are also calling for more support and action beyond the 60 minutes tomorrow.
“The Earth Hour community has become a powerful force for change, both on local and global scales. Earth Hour is no longer simply about the symbolic actions of an hour, but the cumulative actions of the global community generating real outcomes for the environment,” said Andy Ridley, CEO and co-founder of Earth Hour.
“But it’s also clear that the potential for hundreds of millions of people to take action beyond the hour is extraordinary – we are undoubtedly seeing this begin to happen in a big way.”
Watch the Earth Hour 2013 Official Video here:
