From its humble origins in 2007, Earth Hour has grown to become one the largest annual environmental events in the world. Last year’s event reached 162 countries and touched more than 7,000 cities. It’s certainly been exciting to watch the evolution take place.
While Earth Hour has always brought together people, cities, and businesses from across the globe to turn off the lights for a single hour in a visual statement of our collective power to protect the planet we call home, this year has taken on a specific rallying cry to “change climate change.”
WWF may be well-known for its 50-plus years conserving wildlife and restoring its habitat, but we also focus on targeted approaches to mitigating and adapting to climate change. After all, a world without a habitable environment affects both animals and people alike. To this end, it’s critical we leave future generations a world empowered by renewable energy, where communities are resilient in the face of climate change.
Earth Hour is a global movement, an open platform that invites everyone to take part in ways that fit their own individual cultures and values. Verizon is a great example of a company embracing Earth Hour and that way of thinking. Once again, Verizon is participating in Earth Hour and encouraging its employees to do the same. Even more importantly, the company is showing how businesses can “go beyond the hour” by setting and working toward greenhouse gas reduction goals.
And this going to be crucial if we’re going to address climate change.
This is the type of commitment and effort we need from all corporations around the world when it comes to climate change. From WWF’s work on setting corporate GHG reductions in line with climate science to easing the transition to renewable energy for companies, WWF believes that corporations have a critical role to play in solving the climate crisis. There is still a lot of work left to accomplish, but if the growing Earth Hour movement is any indication, we are all certainly headed in the right direction together.
