Important Facts For Prelims
Earth Hour
- 28 Mar 2023
- 3 min read
Why in News?
Earth Hour is a worldwide movement organized to encourage individuals, communities and businesses to turn off non-essential electric lights for one hour.
- It is organized on the last Saturday of March as a symbol of commitment to the planet.
What is an Earth Hour?
- About:
- Earth Hour is the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF)’s annual initiative that began in 2007.
- It encourages people from more than 180 countries to switch off the lights from 8.30 pm to 9.30 pm as per their local time.
- The idea is to refrain from the use of non-essential lighting to save energy in a symbolic call for environmental protection.
- Theme: Invest in Our Planet.
- Significance:
- Earth Hour aims to increase awareness and spark global conversations on protecting nature, tackling the climate crisis, and working together to shape a brighter future for humans.
- The symbolic lights-out Earth Hour has become the world's largest grassroots movement to raise awareness about climate change and energy conservation and to assure a sustainable, brighter future.
What is the World Wildlife Fund?
- About:
- It is the world’s leading conservation organisation and works in more than 100 countries.
- It was established in 1961 and is headquartered at Gland, Switzerland
- Mission:
- To conserve nature and reduce the most pressing threats to the diversity of life on Earth.
- Other Initiatives of WWF:
- TX2 Goal (a global commitment to double the world's wild tigers by 2022)
- TRAFFIC (a joint program of WWF and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)).
- Living Planet Report .
UPSC Civil Services Examination, Previous Year Questions (PYQs)
Q. Consider the following statements regarding ‘Earth Hour’: (2014)
- It is an initiative of UNEP and UNESCO.
- It is a movement in which the participants switch off the lights for one hour on a certain day every year.
- It is a movement to raise the awareness about the climate change and the need to save the planet.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 and 3 only
(b) 2 only
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Ans: (c)
