Lights were turned off across prominent landmarks in the city on Saturday evening to mark the 11th annual Earth Hour event as part of a global campaign to raise awareness about the impacts of climate change. Earth Hour was observed by millions of supporters across 187 countries, who turned off their lights at 8.30 p.m. local time in support of the cause.
WWF- India conducted a series of events at VUDA Park in partnership with the CII and GVMC as part of the Earth Hour campaign. A rock band show followed by cultural programme and finally a candle-light formation at 8.30 p.m. marked the event.
‘Give Up’ initiative
WWF’s Living Planet Report 2016 revealed a 58 % decline in global populations of fish, birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles between 1970 and 2012. To address this issue, WWF-Indis launched the #GIVEUPTOGIVEBACK initiative, starting with this year’s Earth Hour.
The campaign aims to inspire organisations, institutions and individuals to make the choice to curb some habits, practices and lifestyles, burdening both lives and the environment and inspire them to choose alternatives to connect to earth. The ‘Give Up’ initiative starts conversations at different levels and for different agendas and is a lens and tool that organisations can use for shifting organisational culture and behaviour change, for economising operations and reducing costs.
Hotels in the city participated in Earth Hour by switching off lights in their endeavour to sensitise people about the need for conserving the environment and saving energy resource.
While the Earth Hour campaign has consistently focussed on climate change as a key call to action over the last decade, the 2018-2020 global Earth Hour campaign focusses beyond climate change and calls on people across the world to take action and understand the interconnectivity of people and our environment through relevant issues such as air, water and energy.
