Eighteen terawatt-hours (18TWh) – that is the amount of electricity produced globally per hour. To produce one hour of electricity, 18 billion tons of coal, or 90 billion barrels of oil must be burnt (Lunawat, 2022).

In light of this, Earth Hour was started in 2007 by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), promoting environmental awareness through a “lights-off” event, where communities across the world are encouraged to switch of all their lights from 8.30-9.30pm on the last Saturday of March annually. To-date, the annual Earth Hour is still observed by many countries and individuals across the world, inspiring climate advocacy across generations.

Watch the official 2022 Earth Hour Video here:

Critics argue that Earth Hour does more harm than good, as the amount of (energy-inefficient) candles that must be burnt to light up buildings the same way as our typical light bulbs do, produces even more emissions than is saved. However, this is but one side to the story.

The arguably more important agenda of Earth Hour is for education of the public – a policy measure necessary to solve the root cause of light overconsumption. How does the Earth Hour create environmental awareness and spark meaningful discourse regarding the climate agenda? We will be exploring the role of education in tackling light pollution in the next post.

With Earth Hour 2022 coming up (26 March 2022 – Mark your calendars!), how will you be taking action to shape your future?