Earth Hour 2022 – Theme, Facts, Events
For one hour every year, millions of people are unified in their attempts to take action for the environment. Earth Hour is an annual call to action that spreads awareness about sustainability and climate change.
Every March, on the last Saturday of the month, millions of homes and businesses shut off all non-essential lights from 8:30-9:30 pm. This year’s Earth Hour takes place on Saturday, March 26, 2022. The theme will be “Shape Our Future.”
What exactly is Earth Hour?
This yearly event has millions of people all over the globe shut off their lights for one hour. Started by the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF), their aim was to encourage individuals and communities to take action as part of a commitment to planet Earth.
This open-source mission has changed throughout the years. What started as a symbolic call-to-action has evolved into a catalyst for positive environmental impact. Throughout the world, this hour encourages unity towards protecting our planet.
The Mission
Earth Hour began as a way to call attention to climate change. After occurring for over a decade, this event has evolved to include another urgent climate crisis: the rapid loss of biodiversity and nature.
Noting the unprecedented loss of biodiversity in nature that has taken place over the last 50 years, WWF aims to increase awareness and conversations about limiting climate change and protecting nature. Marco Lambertini, Director General of WWF International, said this about Earth Hour:
“Earth Hour is our chance to use our power, as individuals and as a collective, to demand and take action to protect this web of life in return for all it gives us.”
History of Earth Hour
Founded in 2007, the world’s first Earth Hour happened in Sydney, Australia. Over 2.2 million people and businesses joined together to turn off their power and show their climate-skeptic government that people were serious about the fate of the planet.
Earth Hour was born from a think tank initiated by the Earth Hour co-founder Andy Ridley. A partnership was formed between WWF-Australia, Leo Burnett, and Fairfax Media.
Climate change wasn’t a hot-button topic in the earth 2000s, so this event was created to get people talking about how to stop this massive environmental issue. The second Earth Hour saw a 24x increase in participation.
Over 50 million individuals and businesses joined together in turning off their lights. Participation stretched to landmarks as well, with the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and the Colosseum in Rome joining in.
Just a year later, Earth Hour became the World’s Largest grassroots movement for the environment. In 2021, over 190 countries and territories participated in Earth Hour. They received over 9.6 billion social media impressions.
Achievements throughout the years
Earth Hour is more than just a movement to shut off power for an hour. It has inspired many local and national policy changes throughout the world.
WWF-Russia 2012
As part of a 2012 Earth Hour Russia conservation challenge, 120,000 Russian citizens signed a petition to protect the country’s seas from oil pollution. WWF-Russia had been working with the authorities to create sea-protecting policies ever since the 2007 oil spill in the Kerch Strait of Southern Russia.
To garner support for this initiative, WWF enacted an “I will if you will” pledge, enlisting the help of celebrities to garner signatures. Celebrities pledged certain actions if the goal of 100,000 signatures was met.
WWF-Russia, the Ministry of Natural Resources, and a state Duma committee worked together to draft a law that defined rules for extracting and transporting hydrocarbons. The law also made the operating company responsible for the cleanup of oil spills.
This law made it so that even if a contractor was at fault for the spill, the operating company must be the one to clean up and make environmental restitution. It was the first law inspired by Earth Hour.
WWF-Uganda 2013
In 2013, WWF-Uganda created the world’s first Earth Hour forest. Every month, over 6,000 hectares of deforestation occur throughout Uganda. To combat this devastation to the natural environment, WWF-Uganda pledged to fill 2,700 hectares of land with over 500,000 indigenous trees.
WWF-French Polynesia 2018
Pressure from Earth Hour activists inspired French Polynesia to classify 5,000 square kilometers of its Exclusive Economic Zone in the South Pacific as a Managed Marine Area.
This statute will help to preserve vital marine animals in their ecosystems and habitats. Policy changes also occurred in Malaysia, Scotland, and Switzerland.
Concerns about costs
With many billions of hits and dozens of initiatives, people began to wonder about how Earth Hour paid for their advertising and programs. Through partners such as Starcom, Discovery Networks International, and others, Earth Hour was able to secure millions in free advertising. By seeking only pro-bono or low-bono advertising, they are able to keep costs low.
How to take part in Earth Hour
Participating in Earth Hour is easy – just turn off all non-essential lights for an hour. But how should you spend your electricity-free Saturday evening?
Consider taking a walk through nature. Head to a park or other natural space to connect with the Earth. Grab some friends and go camping, or simply sit outside and stargaze.
Or, cook yourself and your loved ones a candle-lit dinner. As a bonus challenge, try cooking using local ingredients or without producing food waste. There are many ways to spend an hour learning about the environment or connecting with it. It will be easy to find one that works for you.
Final thoughts
Earth Hour began as a symbolic conversation-starter about climate change and has evolved into a worldwide, multinational effort to protect planet Earth. Earth Hour-inspired initiatives have had lasting impacts on various governmental policies throughout the world.
If you’re looking for a way to inspire change, consider turning your lights off for an hour or more. Join in on March 26 – you won’t be alone.
