So how many of you will be turning your lights out this evening to support Earth Hour?
In case you haven’t heard, Earth Hour is a global movement to show support for our planet and call for greater action on climate change. It’s a simple concept – you turn your lights out for one hour from 8.30pm. Doesn’t sound like much but just imagine… if every single household in the world switched off for just an hour the amount of energy saved is incomprehensible.
It won’t come as any surprise to our regular followers that this is something we’ve supported for a few years now, though it actually started in Australia back in 2007. Recent years have gained more momentum and media coverage, and last year over 9 million people took part in the UK alone.
From Sydney Opera House to Edinburgh Castle, communities are turning out their lights and coming together to send a clear message of support to the powers that be, to make a united call for action on climate change. Regardless of minority opinions, this threat is real and our planet needs our protection.
This year however, Earth Hour and WWF are asking for a little more than just a symbolic gesture, they’re asking us to “pledge a promise” – to make one small change to our daily activities which will have a significant impact on the planet. They have given us some ideas such as refusing plastic cutlery or using a re-fillable coffee cup, or you can choose your own, and for every promise the WWF will receive £1 donation from Ariel. I’ve just added my promise to the 48,000 already made and the counter is going up as I write. It’s not too late to sign up and make one small change.
So which promise did I choose? Well, it’s a little embarrassing as I can’t believe I haven’t been doing this already!! But I’m turning my washing machine down to 30 degrees! Yes… I know a bit late to the party on this one. I’ve also recently purchased an ecoegg which apparently is equally effective at 30 degrees so it’s a no-brainer really. (If you haven’t yet come across the ecoegg do check it out – I’m well impressed!) I’ve also learnt that turning the temperature down by just 10 degrees will save around 57% of the energy previously used for laundry.
Why is this important?
I’m guessing most of my readers don’t need this pointing out but, for anyone still in any doubt, our planet is fast running out of resources. Here in the UK we use an average of 2.4 planet’s worth of resources each year…. this is nonsensical! How can we use more than what we have? Within my own lifetime 40% of our forests have disappeared and 1 in 6 species have reached the verge of extinction. And it makes me so mad that mega-corporations don’t see the consequences of their actions – or just don’t care.
It’s easy for us to sit back and say “what’s the point?” “What difference will it make?” – and I’ve been feeling like that about a few things just lately… But small changes add up to greater things. You don’t have to change the world single-handedly. By coming together as communities, or as consumers, we can start to create an impact… and that I think is what Earth Hour is all about!
Please check in with us later for Earth Hour to see what else we’re up to and I’d love to hear from you too. If you’ve made a promise do share it in the comments or let me know how you’ll be spending the evening.
Until next time… Jac.x
Positive Earth UK 