This week we are celebrating Earth Hour Day!

Earth Hour started in 2007 as a lights-off event to raise awareness about climate change. We have grown to engage more than 162 countries and territories worldwide. Earth Hour is on Saturday, 28 March 2015 at 8:30 pm local time.

What is Earth Hour?

The Earth Hour event asks that we all, across the Earth, turn off our power systems for one hour on a specified day, at a particular time.

Our planet's weather system is shifting. Whether it is permanent or temporary; the result of human induced global warming, or a natural shift in climate patterns, as has happened many times on earth over the millennia, we really can't be absolutely sure.

One hour, however global, won't affect our climate to any great degree, and there is a danger that gestures like these breed complacency after the event for some. But if it causes individuals and businesses to question our attitude to Earth as an inexhaustible resource created for our consumption, then it's an exercise well worth promoting and practicing.

It would seem to me that the value of Earth Hour Day ultimately lies in its ability to stimulate our intelligence and goodwill towards this lovely planet that we live on. You can find out more about Earth Hour Day, and how you can join in by reading on...

 'Everyone has a right to a clean and healthy environment regardless of race, ethnicity or socio-economic status.'

Earth Hour is organized by the WWF's, and it's mission is to 'stop the degradation of the Earth's natural environment and build a future where people live in harmony with nature.'

The Beginnings Of Earth Hour Day

Earth Hour Day was the inspired idea of the Australian branch of the WWF. The concept was that the residents of Sydney should turn off their lights for one hour at a designated time as a mass statement of concern regarding climate change and the worlds use of fossil fuels.

Starting in 2006, the event was so successful that the following year 2.2 million individuals and more than 2,000 businesses responded to the day and 'switched off' in unison.

After that the event took on a life of its own, as first Toronto in Canada, and then another 35 countries and approximately 400 cities signed up for the event over the next two years. 2011 marked a new record in participation, with 135 countries participating in Earth Hour.

Earth Hour has now become an annual global event, and falls each year on the last Saturday of March; coniciding with the equinox,. This specific timing means that most cities around the globe will be experiencing darkness at the time of the switch off, thus making the event quite stunning.