Earth Hour | 28 Mar 2023

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)

  1. It is an initiative of UNEP and UNESCO.
  2. It is a movement in which the participants switch off the lights for one hour on a certain day every year.
  3. 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)

Source: IE