Earth Hour 2011: Campaign Progress

The Earth: home to over 7 billion human beings. Evolution has brought us to the prime of physiological, philosophical and scientific development. However, with the invention of locomotives, us human beings have gone faster and further than any other living creature in nature within the past centuries.

The widespread production and use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers have rendered vast tracts of land sterile: sterile in the sense that an ecosystem of healthy microbes to insects and animals have been cleansed, leaving fruits and vegetables that have chemicals that have been found to have lingered in human body cells for years after consumption, leading to undesirable health conditions.

This year, the world is making a change: one sustainable step by individuals such as ourselves; something that is environmentally friendly, that we would do beyond the Earth Hour.

On 26 March this year, the island nation, Maldives will participate in the global event by turning off the lights of iconic buildings and landmarks; from the Maldives Monetary Authority, the Velaanaage Office Building, The President’s Office, to large private buildings, to the Maldives National University, colleges, schools and government buildings in the 200 inhabited islands scattered in the 1,192 white sandy islands that comprise the Maldives.

An insight on the significance of Earth Hour

Article taken from : http://maldivestraveller.mv

If we compress the time that the Earth was spun out of the nebula that formed the solar system - 4.5 billion years - to the current day into one year, the birth of mankind and all the events encompassing our era would fit the last second of the year. 

Yet, in the short period of time we have existed, we have managed to pollute and destroy what nature took so long to build and refine. One of the most significant evolutionary innovations by nature was the idea of trapping millenia of excess sunlight that would otherwise continue to heat up the atmosphere, under the earth. 

Yet, mankind released this energy back into the atmosphere during and after the industrial revolution. In the decades that followed, cities like London were covered in the soot and smog that covers the entire region like a choking, warm blanket. Yet, centuries later, we discover a new way to trap sunlight. Solar cells now do the job of sustaining man's need for electricity to use technology that helps keep the whole world as a global village, not to mention for the operation of countless other time saving devices. 

Earth Hour to go beyond the hour

Article taken from : http://maldivestraveller.mv


Earth Hour will be marked throughout the Maldives this year as well, one of the most prominent global awareness event that garners the attention of every citizen of the World about global warming and the consequences of climate change. 

Organised by the World Wild Fund (WWF), the Earth Hour - the largest campaign in history - this year will be going "beyond the hour", celebrating environmental actions that will help conserve just more than electricity but many more needs that mother nature is now demanding upon mankind.

In the event that brings people together from all races, beliefs, cultures, genders, geographies and ages, this year will see a significant paradigm shift in the way the world thinks about the environment we all share. Hopefully, a forum for ordinary people working single-handedly and in groups will be formed, thus forming a platform for sharing innovative ideas for bringing about positive change.

“Earth Hour” in Maldives

Ahmed Nasheed | Earth Hour Maldives Manager

“Earth Hour” is a global event organized by the World Wild Fund (WWF) – the global independent conservation organization to create awareness about Global Warming and the impact it creates on our planet. It is a global call to action for every individual, every business, and every community; a call to stand and take control over the future of our planet. It is also the largest campaign for the planet in history.

The Earth Hour first started as a national event in Australia. On March 31, 2007, by switching of its lights for one hour, over 2.2 million Sydneysiders and 2,100 businesses switched off their lights for the Hour and made a powerful statement about the urgent need for action on Global Warming.

What began by one city taking a stand against Global Warming caught the attention of the world and in March 29, 2008 Earth Hour went global, brought together 35 countries and over 370 cities and towns with an estimated 50 million people globally took part.

EARTH HOUR 2011 - MALDIVES