Earth Hour 2017

Earth Hour 2017 starts in 241 DAYS 07 HRS until next event!

Do you guys support Earth Hour? Lt us save the world together next year.

Earth Hour 2016 took place in an unprecedented 178 countries and territories, making it the biggest celebration for our planet ever, and it is individuals like YOU that made it possible.

Since it first began in Sydney Australia in 2007, the number of countries taking part in Earth Hour has grown to an incredible 178 countries and territories – a number that keeps rising every year!
Earth Hour is not about how much energy is saved during the hour. Rather, it’s a chance to put the spotlight on the issues facing the planet, and to inspire millions across the world to live more sustainably.
Next year’s event will be at 8.30pm – 9.30pm on 25 March, 2017 – don’t miss out!

Celebrations around the world
The Danish royal palaces, Amalienborg Palace and Gråsten Palace, went dark at the Queen's command.
Nelly Furtado held a free concert at Nathan Phillips Square in Downtown Toronto to celebrate Earth Hour.
In Toronto, Ontario, York University's student-run Environmental Outreach Team ran an afternoon Earth Hour information session, and the York University Observatory offered an extra public viewing session.
Stargazing activities were held in Toronto's Ontario Science Centre and Richmond Hill's David Dunlap Observatory.

Astronomy Ireland set up high-powered telescopes in Dublin's Phoenix Park to allow people to take advantage of the night sky, normally swamped by bright city lights.
In Tel Aviv, Israel, a free concert by Knesiyat Hasekhel was held at Rabin Square. Power needed for the concert was generated by a group of cyclists pushing pedal generators. The rest of the power was supplied by generators burning used falafel oil for power.
In Atlanta, the CEO of WWF US, Carter Roberts, and the Mayor of Atlanta, Shirley Franklin, flipped a giant switch on live TV, symbolically starting the wave of lights going out on the buildings around the city.
In San Francisco, a public event hosted by WWF US was attended by Mayor Gavin Newsom, Gold medal figure skater Brian Boitano, Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart, and other celebrities. They gathered to watch the lights go out, listening to the music of Jason Damato.
In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the lights of the world's tallest twin towers, the Petronas Towers, were turned off.

Celebrity endorsements
Earth Hour has been supported around the world by Nelson Mandela, supermodel Miranda Kerr, footballer Lionel Messi, the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Greenpeace International Executive Director Kumi Naidoo, former US Vice President Al Gore, the President of Fiji Ratu Epeli Nailatikau, André Kuipers and the International Space Station, actress Isabel Lucas, TV stars Bill and Giuliana Rancic, Yoko Ono, Stephen Fry, Cate Blanchett, Coldplay, among many others.

In 2014, Earth Hour was supported by Sony Pictures and the cast of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, including actors Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx and director Marc Webb.
The cast put their support behind Earth Hour Blue crowdfunding projects, asking their fans to raise funds for on-the-ground environmental projects from across the world. Spider-Man and its cast and director also attended the WWF-Singapore Earth Hour event in 2014.

Actress and co-founder of The Honest Company, Jessica Alba, was the Earth Hour 2013 global ambassador. Supermodel Miranda Kerr served as global ambassador in 2011 and 2012, helping launch Earth Hour's "I Will If You Will" platform.

Chinese actress Li Bingbing has been a longtime supporter of the campaign, attending WWF-China's Earth Hour events each year. Supermodel Gisele Bündchen is also a longtime supporter of Earth Hour, taking to social media to encourage fans in Brazil and around the world to switch off.

Criticism
Some critics point out that the reduction in power consumption in most cases is insignificant.
The Herald Sun equated the power savings in the Sydney central business district to "taking 48,613 cars off the road for 1 hour".
Australian columnist Andrew Bolt pointed out that "A cut so tiny is trivial – equal to taking six cars off the road for a year".

Other criticisms of Earth Hour have included the following:

The Competitive Enterprise Institute has introduced an opposing Human Achievement Hour in celebration of human progress in various fields of industry, including technology, medicine, energy, and more. During this hour, the Institute suggests that people celebrate by using modern technology such as electricity, telecommunications and indoor plumbing.
Bjørn Lomborg, author of The Skeptical Environmentalist, wrote, "It is vital to make solar and other new technology cheaper than fossil fuels quickly so we can turn off carbon energy sources for a lot longer than one hour and keep the planet running... Fossil fuels literally gave us an enlightenment, by lighting our world and giving us protection from the fury of the elements. It is ironic that today's pure symbolism should hark back to a darker age."
Bjørn also pointed out the feel-good factor Earth Hour creates, noting that it is an "ineffective feel good event" that makes people feel they are doing something for the environment, while in reality the amount of carbon emissions reduced by the earth hour is negligible.
The Christian Science Monitor said that most candles are made from paraffin, a heavy hydrocarbon derived from crude oil, a fossil fuel, and that depending on how many candles a person burns (if one uses candles during Earth Hour), whether or not they normally use compact fluorescent light bulbs, and what source of energy is used to produce their electricity, in some cases, replacing light bulbs with candles will cause an increase, instead of a decrease, in carbon dioxide emissions.
On March 29, 2009, one day after Earth Hour 2009, Dân Trí Daily News published an editorial expressing concern that many young people chose to drive around the darkened city of Hanoi for fun, exhausting petroleum instead of electricity and resulting in long traffic jams.
In 2009, economist Ross McKitrick criticized the idea, saying, "Abundant, cheap electricity has been the greatest source of human liberation in the 20th century.
The whole mentality around Earth Hour demonizes electricity."

In March 2010, The Daily Telegraph quoted Ross Hayman, head of media relations at the UK National Grid, as saying "it could therefore result in an increase in carbon emissions" due to complications related to rapidly lowering then raising electricity generation.
In February 2010, Rick Giles, president of ACT on Campus, the youth wing of New Zealand's ACT Party, appeared on the morning television show Sunrise to denounce Earth Hour and instead suggested the celebration of "Edison Hour". He argued that Earth Hour is an "anti-technology" cause, and that people will simply use candles instead, which is undesirable as they are petroleum-based. He argued that if we are heading for some kind of disaster, it makes sense to use technology to combat this.
Rick said "I think my argument is so powerful that it's not necessary to talk about it".
The Ayn Rand Institute wrote, "Participants spend an enjoyable sixty minutes in the dark, safe in the knowledge that the life-saving benefits of industrial civilization are just a light switch away... Forget one measly hour with just the lights off. How about Earth Month... Try spending a month shivering in the dark without heating, electricity, refrigeration; without power plants or generators; without any of the labor-saving, time-saving, and therefore life-saving products that industrial energy makes possible."
Expressing sarcastic support for Earth Hour, the pro-carbon Carbon Sense Coalition wants Earth Hour to be renamed "Blackout Night", and to be held outside on the shortest and coldest day of the year "...to prepare our population for the dark days ahead".
During the 2010 Earth Hour in the city of Uusikaupunki in Finland, a 17-year-old female motorcyclist hit a 71-year-old man, who was walking on the street instead of the sidewalk for an unknown reason. The man died from his injuries, while the motorcyclist and her passenger were uninjured. At the time of the accident the street lights had been turned off as part of the Earth Hour. The police stated that the lack of street lighting may have played a part in the accident, while the mayor believed the city's street lights would have been too dim to prevent it even if they had been on.
Jeremy Clarkson, ex-host of the BBC motoring programme Top Gear, claimed switching on all electrical items in his home as a protest against the perceived impact of Earth Hour, claiming the event would have little to no effect on attitudes towards climate change.