The 2021 Earth Hour was hailed as the most successful event in Earth Hour’s history. Iconic monuments across the globe, including the Olympic Bird’s Nest Stadium in Beijing, Tokyo Skytree, Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour, Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Gardens by the Bay in Singapore, Eiffel Tower, London Eye, Kremlin, St Peter’s Square in the Vatican, Rome’s Colosseum, and the Acropolis in Athens all observed darkness as a symbolic gesture of their commitment towards climate change. With national monuments, city lights, home lightings and other non-essential lightings switched off for an hour, urban light pollution is also reduced – at least for an hour.
Figure 1: Change in sky luminance over Earth Hour (Jechow, 2019)
The symbolic gesture of countries comes as a pivotal stance against climate change in the lead-up to the COP26 held in Glasgow last November, with 2021 being hailed as a pivotal year in our fight against climate change and the COP26 as the most crucial Conference of Party since the COP21 in 2015 where the Paris Agreement was billed.
Figure 2: the Eiffel Tower before (above) and during (below) Earth Hour
Beyond strengthened national commitments and light savings, Earth Hour 2021 had generated tremendous social media impressions amounting to a reach of 6.7 billion. Other platforms such as Tiktok, Twitter, or Google, also saw Earth Hour and its related hashtags trending across 42 countries, raising awareness on the climate agenda and sparking meaningful discourse regarding pertinent issues.
Besides, in the lead-up to the annual Earth Hour, organisations such as the WWF also publish resources used for education of the masses. These include support packs for schools as well as an Earth Hour assembly presentation to spark climate conversations within institutions.
Increased awareness of the issue is definitely the first step towards strengthening climate commitments, tackling the root cause of light overconsumption.
References
Hannah, V. (2014). How to teach … Earth Hour. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2014/mar/24/how-to-teach-earth-hour
Jechow, A. (2019). Observing the Impact of WWF Earth Hour on Urban Light Pollution: A Case Study in Berlin 2018 Using Differential Photometry. Sustainability, [online] 11(3), p.750. Available at: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/3/750
WWF. (2021). Earth Hour 2021 breaks all records calling for action in crucial year for climate, people and nature. [online] Available at: https://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/?1871966/Earth-Hour-2021-breaks-all-records-calling-for-action-in-crucial-year-for-climate-people-and-nature#:~:text=Earth%20Hour%202021%20generated%206.7,event%20in%20Earth%20Hour%E2%80%99s%20history.