Earth Hour : What is Earth Hour Exactly?

Earth Hour, organized by WWF, is a global grassroots movement uniting people to take action on environmental issues and protect the planet. Engaging a massive mainstream community, Earth Hour was famously started as a lights out event in Sydney, Australia in 2007. 

Since then, it has grown to engage millions of supporters in more than 185 countries and territories, inspiring individuals and organizations worldwide to take action for the environment, and driving major legislative changes by harnessing the power of the crowd. As the movement grows, the one-hour lights out event continues to be the symbol of a broader commitment toward nature and our planet.

Earth Hour is more than an annual event – it is a movement that culminates in an hour of inspiration held around the world toward the end of March each year. The second-to-last and last weekend of March is around the time of the Spring and Autumn equinoxes in the northern and southern hemispheres respectively, which allows for near coincidental sunset times in both hemispheres, thereby ensuring the greatest visual impact for a global ‘lights out’ event.

The first Earth Hour event was held on 31 March 2007. WWF-Australia inspired Sydney-siders to show their support for climate action. More than 2.2 million individuals and 2,000 businesses turned their lights out for one hour in the first Earth Hour event.
For the past 10 years, people around the world have come together every Earth Hour to support efforts to tackle climate change. And, together, we have created a powerful movement that helped deliver strong global commitments to tackling this threat. Climate change remains a big challenge for us all.

Since the movement began, the earth hour had achieved

• WWF-Uganda created the world’s first Earth Hour Forest
• More than 250,000 Russians voiced support for better protection of their country’s seas and forests
• Argentina used its 2013 Earth Hour campaign to help pass a Senate bill for a 3.4 million hectares Marine Protected Area in the country
• Thousands of wood-saving stoves were distributed to families in Madagascar
• Solar-powered lights were installed in three villages without electricity in India
• In Paraguay, WWF used the Earth Hour platform to build public support to gain an extension of the logging moratorium, helping to reduce deforestation
• Education programs for schools were launched in Thailand and Taiwan
• Hundreds of thousands of LED lights were installed by girl scouts in the USA
• More than 2,123 mitigation actions submitted by Earth Hour City Challenge 2014 participating cities

Earth Hour came from a think tank initiated by Earth Hour Co-Founder, Andy Ridley, resulting in the formation of a partnership between WWF-Australia, Leo Burnett and Fairfax Media to address the climate change issue. While WWF projects and individual actions under the Earth Hour movement continue throughout the year, the annual Earth Hour lights out event is held worldwide toward the end of March to encourage individuals, households, communities and businesses to turn off their non-essential lights for one hour as a symbol for their commitment to the planet.

But another urgent threat now demands our attention: the staggering loss of biodiversity and nature. Earth Hour today endeavors to spark global conversations on protecting nature not only because it is our strongest ally against to the climate crisis -  but also because of its importance in ensuring our own health, happiness, prosperity and even survival.

The first thing anyone can do to get involved is to turn off their lights during Earth Hour. But there is much, much more. The objective is for people to take action beyond the hour, whether it is supporting a local WWF project or getting involved in Earth Hour campaigns in their own country, or starting the movement in their own community. The vision is always to do more, so make the light switch the beginning of your journey.