This year’s Earth Hour was supported in more than 6,525 cities and towns in 150 countries around the world, reaching more than 1.9 billion people. The theme for this year’s Earth was “I will if you will”, a campaign is to encourage people all over the world to be more conscious of our environment and to adapt our lifestyles in a way which will sustain our fast shrinking natural resources.
2012 saw Libya taking part in Earth Hour for the first time. It was organized by two young boys in their hometown of Tripoli, just months after the end of the Libyan uprising. It is exciting to see the growing numbers of children and teenagers around the world getting involved in caring for our planet, our future is their future.
Nathi Mzileni (16) from Swaziland co-ordinated his country’s Earth Hour, persuading Big Game Parks to participate in an ‘I Will if You Will’ challenge, getting government backing and enlisting the support of Swaziland’s biggest newspaper.
Another first for 2012 Earth Hour was the participation of the International Space Station where ESA astronaut and WWF ambassador Andre Kuipers kept watch over our planet as the lights were switched off, sharing photos and live commentary of the experience via the European Space Agency.
Earth Hour’s YouTube platform generated around 4 million hits over the weekend, with more than 4400 challenges accepted by a staggering 150,000 people committed to going beyond the hour and to making a difference to our precious planet.“Think Globally, Act Locally, together we can make a difference”
Post published in: Environment