Sri Lanka gears up to support Earth Hour for the 5th consecutive year

Friday, 21 March 2014 04:20 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Shabiya Ali Ahlam Sri Lanka will see a number of ‘superheroes’ help fight against climate change with the nation gearing up to support the Earth Hour cause for the fifth consecutive year. With the iconic switch-off event scheduled to take place on 29 March (Saturday) from 8:30-9:30 p.m., the movement will be officially launched on 22 March with the support of the Western Province Ministry of Environment. The highlight event on 29 March will be held at Coco Verandah in partnership with E-FM and Colombo Tabrobane Round 3, where in addition to a series of activities an open mic session will take place.

Unlike like previous years, Earth Hour 2014 will be held under a unique and creative theme - ‘Be a Super Hero for the Planet and Use Your Power’. The theme for 2014 aims to shed light on actions taken by individuals, businesses, and governments worldwide to reduce the impact of their day-to-day activities on their environment, thereby establishing and encouraging others to join an interconnected global community engaged in dialogue and resource sharing that generates real solutions to environmental challenges. With the Earth Hour becoming increasingly popular, Earth Hour Country Manager Sri Lanka Abdul Qadir Uvais said in a brief interview with the Daily FT that the team strongly believes in awareness being a vital component for the success of the event. “We have used many ways to reach the people with the Earth Hour message but what matters most for us is to change the way people take care of the environment. We want to unite people to protect the environment and our planet,” said Uvais. Last year Earth Hour Co-Founder and Executive Director Andy Ridley visited Sri Lanka for the first time to host the Earth Hour Symposium 2013 and encourage people to go ‘beyond the hour’. In 2012 President Mahinda Rajapaksa showed his support to the movement by sending a text message to every mobile subscriber in the nation, encouraging them to join him in being a part of Earth Hour. The corporate community has continued used the cause as a platform for their CSR initiatives and has played an active role in educating their staff and stakeholders on the importance of addressing climate change issues and ways of addressing them on a day-to-day basis.

How can ‘you’ support Earth Hour this year?

If you’re an individual

Earth Hour is a people’s movement inspiring individuals from more than 7,000 cities across the globe to take a stand against climate change, making it the largest voluntary movement ever witnessed in history! Switch off for the hour: Be a part of this spectacular campaign and stand united with million others across the globe by switching off all your non-essential lights from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, 29 March. Sign up: Make sure your participation counts by signing up at http://www.earthhour.lk/signup.html. Share your plans in advance it can go up on Earth Hour digital platforms. Spread the word: Amplify the campaign and bring on board your family, friends, neighbours, colleagues and spread the word on “Switch Off and Sign Up”. Use your Facebook account, Twitter account, blog, website or any other way to make Earth Hour more successful!

If you’re an organisation

Organisations have the power to reduce their impact on the environment, while striving towards more environment-friendly practices to benefit both the environment and the organisation. Here’s how your organisation can make a difference! Switch off: Turn off all the non-essential lights in your buildings, facilities and signage from 8:30-9:30 p.m. on Saturday, 29 March and encourage participation at every level in your organisation. Communicate Earth Hour to all staff using emails, newsletters, posters, intranet, SMS, website, staff associations and committees, both in Sri Lanka and in all your offices, globally, encouraging organisation-wide participation. Sign up: Make sure your business’s participation counts. Get your organisation and employees to sign up athttp://www.earthhour.lk/signup.html. Share your plans in advance it can go up on Earth Hour digital platforms.

The Earth Hour is a global campaign that was launched in 2007 in Sydney, Australia by the World Wild Life Fund (WWF) to inspire governments, businesses, communities, and individuals to take a stand against climate change. It has grown to become the largest environment campaign in successfully uniting the world towards taking collective action by switching off non-essential lights for one hour in celebration of the planet. Since then, every year Earth Hour sets new standards and breaks its own records on mass participation and support. 2010 received participation from a record 1.3 billion individuals across 4616 cities in 128 countries globally, including Sri Lanka, which took part in Earth Hour officially for the first time. In 2010 Sri Lanka officially took part in Earth Hour where Environment Minister of that time Champika Ranawaka took the lead to support the movement and organised the first Earth Hour event at the Environment ministry premises. All Government institutions switched off non-essential lights during the Earth Hour and showed its support.