Earth Hour

Context:

Every year on 26^th March, people around the planet take an hour off electricity by switching off their lights at homes and offices as a show of support for conservation of energy during the World Earth Hour.

2022 Theme: Shape Our Future

About Earth Hour

• Earth Hour is a global movement for environmental conservation. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) started it in 2007.
• It is an annual event, that takes place on the last Saturday of March. Millions of people in over 180 countries and territories participate in it by turning off their lights.
• Aim: It aims to call attention to global warming, loss of biodiversity, and climate change.
• During the Earth Hour, people turn off their lights for an hour as a sign of global solidarity.
• Significance: This hour showcases the need to take action on the pressing issue of global climate change. Further, it promotes awareness about environmental issues on a public platform.

Objectives

• 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.
• It calls for the world to unite in a moment of solidarity for people and the planet.
• The practice has become a catalyst for dramatic change and collective action towards protecting the environment.
• 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.

Earth Day

• Earth Day is an annual event, celebrated on April 22.

• Worldwide events are held to demonstrate support for environmental protection. The theme of Earth Day 2019 is “Protect Our Species”.
• It was first celebrated in 1970, and is now coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network and celebrated in more than 193 countries each year.
• The idea of commemorating such a day was propounded by Gaylord Nelson, an American environmentalist and politician.
• According to the United Nations, International Earth Day is celebrated to remind each of us that the Earth and its ecosystems provide us with life and sustenance.
• The Earth Day also recognizes a collective responsibility, as called for in the 1992 Rio Declaration (Earth Summit), to promote harmony with nature and the Earth to achieve a just balance among the economic, social and environmental needs of present and future generations of humanity.
• This day provides an opportunity to raise public awareness around the world to the challenges regarding the well-being of the planet and all the life it supports.

Earth Day Network

• Earth Day Network is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to diversify, educate and activate the environmental movement worldwide.
• EDN main office is located in Washington DC, USA.

What are the Major Indian Initiatives for Energy Conservation?

• Perform Achieve and Trade Scheme (PAT): It is a market based mechanism to enhance the cost effectiveness in improving the Energy Efficiency in Energy Intensive industries through certification of energy saving which can be traded.
• Standards and Labeling: The scheme was launched in 2006 and is currently invoked for equipment/appliances.
• Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC): It was developed for new commercial buildings in 2007.
• Demand Side Management: It is the selection, planning, and implementation of measures intended to have an influence on the demand or customer-side of the electric metre.

World Wide Fund for Nature:

• It is international non-governmental organization working in the field of the wilderness preservation and reduction of human impact on the environment.
• It was formerly named World Wildlife Fund.
• It is world’s largest conservation organization with over five million supporters worldwide, working in more than 100 countries, supporting around 1,300 conservation and environmental projects.
• It was founded in 1961 and is headquartered in Gland, Switzerland.
• WWF aims to stop degradation of planet’s natural environment and build future in which humans live in harmony with nature.
• Currently, its work is organized around these six areas: food, climate, freshwater, wildlife, forests, and oceans.
• It publishes Living Planet Report every two years since 1998 and it is based on Living Planet Index and ecological footprint calculation.

Source: Hindustan Times

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