To know more about the significance of Earth Hour, Jagran New Media’s Associate Editor Urvashi Kapoor spoke to Ravi Singh, who is the Secretary-General and CEO of the WWF-India. Ravi Singh said that the Earth Hour is one of the largest environmental movements in the world, adding that the threats of climate change and global warming are looming large on our environment which makes Earth Hour more significant.
Ravi Singh added that the movement by the WWF has now reached almost every part of the world with many streets, landmark buildings and city skylines observing it. “In recent years the Earth Hour movement has seen entire streets, buildings, landmarks and city skylines go dark to take part! This draws attention to the issues of climate change and global warming”.
“On 31 March 2007, more than 2.2 million individuals and 2,000 businesses in Sydney, Australia switched off their lights for one hour, which marked the beginning of the Earth Hour movement. And that one particular hour has gone global, with more than 190 countries participating in switch-off events and activities, to show their support for nature and climate,” Ravi further said.
“The Change Has Started”
Talking about the significance of the campaign, Ravi said, “Earth Hour aims to encourage individuals to take action and then harness the collective power of all of these individuals to drive a change”. On Global Warming, which is one of the most serious concerns of the contemporary world, Ravi said that Earth Hour is an opportunity to show your support in saving the environment and tackling the drastic effects of global warming.
“Earth hour is an opportunity for millions of people all around the world to take part in Earth hour and show their support for climate change. By switching off your lights for one hour, you can make a substantial difference in energy consumption and can help reduce the effect of global warming on this planet”, he said.
“Participating in Earth Hour demonstrates our commitment to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and proves that individual efforts, when taken together, add up to make a positive difference for the environment,” Ravi said adding, “Earth Hour is an important step forward in our lives every year. Spend this hour to meditate and think on positive actions that we can take, individually and collectively, to better the environment”.
