SYDNEY—If the world’s public is suffering from Climate Change “fatigue”—given the recent “climategate” scandals and disappointing results from Copenhagen—it has not hurt interest in Earth Hour, rather it has invigorated it, says Earth Hour Executive Director Andy Ridley.
“We have 116 countries participating as of today,” says Ridley about the March 27 event. “And there are still more coming!”
Organized by the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF), Earth Hour began in Sydney, Australia in 2007 when 2.2 million homes and businesses turned their lights off for one hour to make a stand against climate change.
Ridley said he was nervous this year that people would feel “fatigued” by climate change with Copenhagen seen as a failure and the controversy over the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s part in the ‘climategate’ scandal that has shaken the public’s confidence in the science of climate change.
Instead, he said he has found exactly the opposite. People have been even more invigorated to take action at the grass roots level.
He believes that the global financial crisis has also contributed in that it reflects a similar inability by leaders to address the issue.
“My sense on it is that it is a similar kind of thing. If you look at the [United] States there has been limited change.”
People are feeling that if you leave it up to the specialist interests then nothing is going to change.
“We all have to take responsibility for the environment. Earth Hour is a rallying point where everyone’s voice is heard,” he said.
Last year, 88 countries participated, and over 4,000 cities, but this year has seen a quantum leap with developing countries like India joining up along with the smaller areas like Casablanca in Morocco, and Brunei above the Indonesian Archipelago.
“The beauty of it is we are not running it, other people are,” said Ridley explaining that in the bigger cities, the WWF has been the driver, but in the smaller areas they were driven purely by community interest.
Earth Hour is “inclusionary,” he said, noting that he made up a new word to describe it. “Anyone can take it up.”
Earth Hour 2010 will take place on Saturday night March 27 at 8:30 p.m. in your local time zone. Lights will be turned off for an hour in a “symbolic act,” Ridley said, of commitment to a sustainable future.
Some of the world’s most iconic landmarks have pledged to switch off for Earth Hour 2010 including the Sydney Opera House and Harbor Bridge plus the Empire State Building, Eiffel Tower, Hiroshima Peace Memorial, London Eye, Brandenburg Gate, Tokyo Tower, Tapei 101, Istanbul’s Bosphorus Bridge, and the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
The Chatham Islands off the East Coast of New Zealand will be the first to turn the lights out, Ridley said, and Samoa, some 24 and three-quarter hours later, will be the last. Last year, 80 million Americans and 318 U.S. cities switched off their lights for Earth Hour.
