Dubai: As the UAE and the rest of the world celebrate Earth Hour on Saturday, organisers say residents can always go beyond the hourlong exercise and make concrete steps to protect the planet every day of the year.
Earth Hour 2018, the world’s largest grass roots movement for action on climate change, will be marked across the UAE by symbolically switching off non-essential lights from 8.30pm to 9.30pm at three official locations in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah.
Several landmarks in the UAE, including the Burj Khalifa and Shaikh Zayed Grand Mosque, will switch off their lights. New iconic landmarks in the country will also participate this year, according to Emirates Wildlife Society (EWS-WWF), which spearheads the event in the UAE.
With the theme #Connect2Earth, Earth Hour 2018 brings the focus on connecting to earth and committing to unite and protecting planet Earth: our only home.
“Earth Hour this year will be shedding light on biodiversity around the world. So it’s encouraging everyone to connect to earth and protect the home that people share with other species. The celebrations this year will actually kick start a three-year strategy in conservation of global biodiversity,” Laila Mustafa Abdul Latif, Director-General EWS-WWF, told Gulf News.
Abdul Latif said the celebration of Earth Hour in the UAE has grown since it began in 2008 with just Dubai marking the occasion to a more countrywide exercise now.
“Since its inception, it has encouraged a number of individuals, communities, businesses, cities, and all around the world to raise awareness about the important issues affecting us all.”
EWS-WWF is partnering with the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority and Environment and Protected Area Authority.
Apart from switching off unnecessary lights for one hour on Saturday, residents can also make the campaign more personal by pledging to join the movement and making “a promise to protect our planet every day of the year”. This can be done through simple lifestyle tweaks or major life changes.
Residents can visit www.earthhour.ae and sign-up and choose their pledge from these choices: “Reduce single-use plastic, use a reusable coffee cup, make my air-conditioning 2 degrees Centigrade warmer, save energy by using LED light bulbs, get an electric vehicle, reduce waste, refuse plastic cutlery and straws, use solar energy, always respect nature, or “choose my own’.
Reusing single-use plastic and refusing plastic cutlery and straws, for example, are two important changes people can make since eight million tonnes of plastic leak into the ocean — equivalent to a garbage truck full of trash being dumped into the ocean every minute, according to the New Plastics Economy report.
Some 23,000 residents have already signed up and made the pledge with Earth Hour UAE and Abdul Latif is confident more people will come forward in the coming days.
HOW TO MARK EARTH HOUR:
Switch off all non-essential lights at home from 8.30pm to 9.30pm
Official events:
Dubai: Earth Hour Walkathon — Marasi Promenade Business Bay, Dubai
Abu Dhabi: Shaikh Zayed Grand Mosque
Sharjah: Earth Hour Walkathon — Al Majaz Waterfront
For more information, visit www.earthhour.ae
