It's time to Earth Hour

by Eleonora Anello

It’s time again to Earth Hour, global initiative launched by WWF to drive attention on climate changes. The date is Saturday 28th March 2009 at 8.30 p.m. for each time zone: to oppose to global warming and to put pressure on institutions... just turn off the light!

The first global click has been organized in 2007 in Sydney (Australia), joined by 2.2 million people. Houses, roads and shops were unlighted. The following year the act was expanded to 370 cities in 32 different countries.
This year the goal is to involve a billion of people and more than 1,000 cities. Los Angeles, Las Vegas, London, Hong Kong, Sydney, Moscow, Lisbon, Manila, Singapore, Istanbul, Mexico City, Toronto, Dubai and many others cities will turn off the lights of their monuments and symbol-places.
The so-called "great ola", will be filmed from space by the Italian Space Agency (ASI), in collaboration with ESA (European Space Agency).
Each city is responsible for its promotional and communication campaign.

Campaign’s testimonials come from different sectors. Many Nobel prizes are due to participate: from Rita Levi Montalcini to the Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Even scientists as Margherita Hack and football champions like Francesco Totti lend their image to environment protection.

Private companies were also invited to participate in the event: they can announce their membership to Earth Hour by downloading a special double-function banner, created to providing visibility and bringing greater appeal to companies.

The promotional campaign runs in the WWF’s global network, which for the occasion has established teams in more than 30 countries all over the world. The promotion travels mainly on the Net: on You Tube there is the official video but especially lots of homemade videos created and directed also by children. Great participation on social networks, first of all Facebook.
But great expectations are related to Shephard Fairey, the American street artist who supported Obama’s campaign with his artwork, and will be editing the launch.

Feature characteristic of this campaign is the self-initiative. Activists are given the option to download the promotional materials (posters, stickers, prints for t-shirt, and also tools for their mobile). Anyone can therefore spread the message, especially through technologies. The organizers, for example, invite all bloggers to spread the information to participate at the action.

To take part, it is necessary to sign up on-line and… remember to turn offlight.