Thousands of cities around the world will turn off their most famous monuments this March 23 in support of Earth Hour, an initiative of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) that seeks to raise awareness about the urgency of confronting the climate crisis and the loss of biodiversity. This symbolic movement aims to inspire companies, city councils and citizens to make real changes in their interaction with the planet before we run out of time and reach the point of no return.
Earth Hour was born in Sydney on March 31, 2007, as a gesture to draw the attention of society as a whole to the urgency of the climate crisis. This call has been growing year after year until today it has become one of the most supported environmental actions in the world, which has already spread from Asia and Africa, to North and South America, passing through Oceania and Europe and reaching Antarctica, according to a WWF statement.
Under the slogan “Turn off the light. Give the Planet an Hour”, the initiative consists of a simple gesture: turning off the lights of buildings and monuments for an hour. Up to 200 countries participate each year, leaving more than 17,000 monuments in darkness. This year, more than 700 town councils, companies and organizations from around the world have already joined.
This Thursday, March 23, the blackout will take place from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. For 60 minutes, iconic buildings from around the world, such as the Sydney Opera House, the Brandenburg Gate, the Empire State Building, the Eiffel Tower and the Colosseum in Rome, will remain in darkness to remind humanity that the climate crisis is the greatest challenge we face as a species.
In Spain, the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, ??the Cathedral of Burgos, the Hanging Houses of Cuenca, the Puerta de Alcalá and Cibeles in Madrid, the Monumental City of Cáceres, and the Miguelete have already announced their commitment to this Thursday’s blackout. and the Valencia Cathedral, which will remain dark during 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.
In 2023, the 500 municipalities registered for Earth Hour in Spain were surpassed. This year, more than 340 municipalities have already joined the campaign, with the incorporation for the first time of municipalities such as Las Torres de Cotillas (Murcia), Espeluy (Jaén), Benejúzar (Valencia), Alconchel (Badajoz), Talaveruela de la Vera (Cáceres) and Albox (Almería). Some railway stations in various parts of Spain will also join the initiative.
WWF insists that the climate crisis is a global problem that affects each and every one of the people who inhabit this planet: 2023 has been the warmest year in history since records have been kept. This increase in global temperature has resulted in increasingly frequent extreme weather events such as floods, droughts, heat waves and devastating forest fires that degrade our planet and our quality of life. For the NGO, these 60 minutes of blackout are a way to show global unity in the fight to protect our planet.
According to scientific studies, 2030 is a key year to reverse the climate crisis: it is the deadline for humanity to stop the rise in global average temperature, which cannot exceed 1.5º compared to pre-industrial levels (the point of no return), and to return to the planet the loss of biodiversity that has been observed in recent years. For this reason, we are at a crucial moment to reverse the impact of the climate crisis. But the changes being made so far are moving too slowly.
And why was it decided to cause a blackout to make this problem visible? Because, according to WWF, the environmental NGO that directs the campaign in Spain, energy saving is necessary to avoid reaching the point of no return. The NGO argues that, although 60 minutes seem insignificant, if millions of people, municipalities, companies and organizations around the world join in this initiative, that hour becomes thousands of hours of action for the planet. According to this non-profit organization, time is the most valuable thing we have, and the clock is also ticking to save the planet.
But Earth Hour not only calls on companies, city councils and organizations, but also demands the collaboration of citizens. What can we do to participate? Join the lights out at the scheduled time: from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. WWF also encourages everyone to join the ‘Hours for the Planet Bank’. This initiative, which is part of the same campaign, invites anyone to “add hours caring for the planet” by carrying out sustainable and positive activities for the environment.
To make this collective participation in the ‘hour bank’ viral, WWF has collaborated with influencers and communicators to encourage the audience to dedicate an hour to the planet doing something they like. Influential figures such as Jesús Calleja, María Herrejón, Climabar, Gipsy Chef, and Xuan Lan are encouraging their followers to donate an hour of their time to the planet taking advantage of their hobbies. They propose activities related to sports, cooking or art, among others. The different proposals can be consulted on the WWF Spain website. For example, Gypsy Chef, collaborator of the Comer de La Vanguardia channel, proposes a sustainable recipe:
For the WWF, “this day reminds us that nature is our life support system, providing us with everything we need, from the air we breathe to the water we drink and the food we eat, and that we must defend it now to safeguard the health of our planet and, in turn, our own health and well-being.” Protecting the planet, according to the NGO, is the responsibility of all people, companies and organizations in the world.
