Do your bit and think big for Earth Hour

Earth Hour is a WWF event to raise awareness about climate change and to symbolize that, working together, the people of the world can make a difference in the fight against climate change.

Here is how you can make a difference:

Sign up for Earth Hour
You can do that here http://www.earthhour.org/sign-up. Not only will that make you feel like you are really a part of it, but also you'll receive lots of useful tips and tools.

Tell a friend
Better still, tell all your friends, and your family, and your workmates. Just email/text them a link to this website and recruit them to this worthy cause.

Get together a small team of committed people and organisations willing to put the time and effort into making the Earth Hour a success.

Check out the Earth Hour video
Watch the video of the first Earth Hour in Sydney on this page www.earthhour.org It will inspire you to take a stand against global warming. Or you can watch an environmentally themed movie to get you in the mood.

First stop, the city
The city is one of the largest users of power in your area. Telephone businesses and stores in your area and ask them to switch off the lights their buildings, neon signs and lobbies for one hour.

Ask your favourite restaurant to have a candle-lit dinner hour. Call local radio and share your ideas.

Or better still, let the Gulf News know what you are doing for the planet.

Be creative
Have fun during Earth Hour. Think creatively about how to bring your friends and family together for the night.

Organise a theme party in your neighbourhood with games and activities, have a quite barbecue in your garden, organise a movie or music night at someone's house, do some star-gazing or spend the Earth Hour chatting with your friends about what you can do in the future to save energy.

Loosen those purse strings
If you'd like to take a more significant role in Earth Hour, contact WWF to find out about support opportunities. If you've registered as a business, don't be afraid to advertise your support for Earth Hour. It's great for business and the environment!

What organisations can do

Restaurants could post signs on their doors inviting guests to join you on the evening of Earth Hour. Place reminders about Earth Hour on tables, at bars, or in bathrooms.

Promote your involvement with Earth Hour to patrons when they call for reservations.

Create a special menu or cocktail, serve your guests by candlelight, and reduce non-essential lighting where possible.

Schools and colleges can have a symbolic Earth Hour event – like an Earth Hour assembly, a nature hike or a talk on the environment. Welcome your school-designated Earth Hour with a “countdown'' to generate student awareness and excitement around the event.

Do a story for your student paper. Organize a lights-out event through the student union and dormitories so that as many students as possible can participate. Place posters in common rooms, libraries, class rooms and dorms.

Retailers could turn off all non-essential lighting in your store – have customers shop by low light or by candle light or have an Earth Hour promotion. During Earth Hour, try to do transactions manually in order to help reduce power used for electronic transactions.

Buy a Tee
What better way to cool the earth than to wear a really cool Earth Hour t-shirt that you can buy from their website? Funds raised from the tee sales will enable WWF to continue its work conserving the world's unique plants and animals and their habitats, by tackling the threat of climate change.

The sleek black, pure cotton t-shirt flaunts the Earth Hour logo.

Get the neighbours involved
Residential buildings can place signage in all elevators and resident common areas. Building security can organise a door-to-door campaign on the day to remind residents of the event.

Organise a community event for residents – arrange a walk through the neighbourhood or host a potluck by candlelight.

Click some pictures and compare them with those taken by your neighbours during Earth Hour. You could even have a prize for the best one of the lot!

Do not believe all that you hear
Do not pay heed to criticisms. Some claim that Earth Hour only shows a negligible reduction in carbon emissions - switching off your lights for just an hour may not contribute much towards reducing carbon footprints.

But isn't that one of the initial objectives of Earth Hour - to raise community awareness on climate change caused by global warming?

Through the campaign, you can at least realize that the current rate of global warming can be slowed down by making small adjustments to the way we live, such as turning off the lights for 1 hour.

Hey, all it takes is one person to make one small difference.