Earth Hour Oomph

And that of course is what it’s supposed to be.   From an event that didn’t even exist just three years ago, Earth Hour has burst onto the world stage as a top-tier global phenomenon. Last year, 35 countries and 50 million people took part. With nearly a month still to go before Earth Hour 2009, twice that number of countries have signed up already. Worldwide, we’re aiming for one billion participants this year.

 If it wasn’t so much fun, we’d never hope to get those numbers.

But Earth Hour has become the world’s biggest global event because it’s important, too.  That’s the other reason for its astonishing success—and the explanation for our blog’s new look.

In its purest form, Earth hour is a massive demonstration of public will. It’s non-partisan (with millions of voices spread across every corner of the globe, it’s simply too big to be otherwise), it has no specific target—except to give a billion ordinary people an opportunity to say “We’re worried about climate change and on March 28, at 8:30 PM, we intend to shut off the lights to demonstrate the point”.

Any way you slice it, a billion voices adds up to a powerful message. Last year, somewhere between eight and ten million Canadians participated. We expect at least that number this year, probably more. In a Canadian context, that’s really a powerful voice.

I hope this explains why, over the next four weeks, this blog will deliver content with a much stronger Earth Hour focus.  More Oomph. You’ll have noticed the new look; we’ve redesigned to ramp up awareness.

Earth Hour is a very big deal for us all. 

Last year, Canada was a world-leader in Earth Hour participation. Sign up, and let’s make that voice even louder.

Then, on March 28—as you celebrate Earth Hour with family, friends and neighbours—you can relax and just have fun.

 

Scott