On March 28, 2007, Sydney suddenly just vanished into darkness from 8:30 to 9:30 pm. It was not because of a blackout. The 2.2 million people turned off the lights in their houses and offices, even in such important buildings as the Opera House, and the Tower Bridge. In 2009, 88 countries and 4,088 cities around the world were involved in the same activity. Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, the Roman Colosseum, Sydney’s Opera House and even the JumboTron in New York Times Square were also switched off. With Korea’s participation, the light of Namsan Seoul Tower, Han River Bridge, and Seoul City Hall were turned off.
Earth Hour, do you know the ‘Special Time for the Earth’? WWF(World Wide Fund for Nature) has been conducting this worldwide campaign since 2007 in order to decreasing abnormal climate changes. They ask households and businesses to turn off their non-essential lights and other electrical appliances for one hour. Earth hour was first conceived by the 2.2 million residents of Sydney who agreed to turn off all non-essential lights to raise awareness for the need to take action about recent climate change. Following Sydney’s lead, many other cities around the world adopted the event, which is having its 4th anniversary this year. The Earth Hour is making the rounds of the Earth, The Earth takes its breath while the Earth Hour goes around the world from Suva, Fiji to Christ Church, New Zealand. For this one hour, people are sharing their love for nature by turning off their lights.
The Earth Hour will be happening this year on March 27, Saturday from 8:30 to 9:30pm. Green Korea United has made the 2009 Earth Hour UCC in a Korean version about the Earth Hour to let many people and cities know about it and boost the number of Earth Hour participants. Sadly, Korea has had lower participation compared with other countries even though Seoul, Changwon, and Kumho Asiana participated in 2009.
Lee Hui Song(Project Manager of MMF KOREA) said, “Earth Hour is a world wide event but unfortunately, it’s not so popular in Korea. We are trying to advertise this event in many ways and encourage people to participate in this campaign. As you know the Earth Hour was first conceived by residents in Sydney on their own initiative, I hope that Koreans also become such true citizens by making a real move for this campaign.” Park Hye Won(Sookmyung University, Junior) said “I participated in the Earth Hour campaign last year. It was not that easy to go without electricity for an hour but I felt overflowing joy because my action is helping to prevent global warming.”
One hour for the earth, one day in one year, why don’t you offer one hour to our green earth? The Slogan -‘Pulling out the plug, Turning on the candle light and Slowing Down’ is hard to put into practice in a modern society where light always shines brightly even after the sun goes down. But if we turn on the candle light instead of using electricity, we can also enjoy a break in your busy life. March 27th, let’s take a green breath with the Earth.