Earth Hour - Turn Off Your Lights!

Today (3/23/13) is the day of Earth Hour from 8:30 to 9:30 pm. For that hour people and businesses are supposed to turn off  all their lights. Earth Hour started March 31st, 2007 in Sydney, Australia, with over 2 million participants. The next year saw over 35 countries, and possibly 50 to 100 million people participate in Earth Hour. It has continued yearly, last year 152 countries joined in, and this year hopefully there will be even more countries and people participating. I myself plan to turn off the lights in my apartment for the hour.

Many countries are participating this year, and you can view the different activities using an interactive map. In my area, Jersey City, Nutley, and Bloomfield are encouraging people and businesses to participate in Earth Hour. The Element in New York City will be switching to candlelight in the lobby. There will be a toast to Mother Earth and the proceeds from the bar during the hour will be donated to the World Wildlife Fund.

Germany participated in the event as well. At the time that I wrote this post it was past ten pm and the hour was up. People in Berlin had been invited to gather at the Brandenburg Gate, where the lights were turned off.

Markus Schreiber, The Associated Press

Check out Aruba's Earth Hour Facebook page!

People in countries all over the world are turning off their lights, planting and protecting trees, signing petitions, and helping anyway they can to support conservation.

You can help too! If you are reading this before 8:30 pm on March 23rd, turn off your lights for the hour and spread the word! 

If you read this post too late to participate in Earth Hour 2013 then I urge you to go to earthhour.org to join, or start your own, I Will If You Will challenge.

Nate Coleman from The Weather Network challenged that he would give up meat for a week if 500 people would pledge to eat one vegetarian meal a week for the rest of the year. 

Check out more I Will If You Will - Earth Hour challenges and accept one! 

Sadly, I did not learn about Earth Hour until today, at about 5 pm actually. Luckily, in time for me to turn off my lights and to try to quickly spread the word through this post and social media. Next year, I hope to do more to raise awareness in my area and get others to participate as well.

I hope you will join me in Earth Hour 2013 and next year for Earth Hour 2014!