Earth Hour back: Lights off on March 27

 13 Mar 2010 11:43 PM PST; New Delhi

On March 27, between 8.30pm and 9.30pm, Bollywood icon Abhishek Bachchan will probably be enjoying a candlelight dinner with his wife.

And thousands of others will be spending the hour organizing gatherings, marches and participating in Earth Hour events.

The global event, when millions across the globe will join hands in switching off lights for one hour to pledge their support for the planet, is back and India, specially Delhi, will be playing a major role in making the event a success.

This year, more than a billion people across 6,000 cities and towns will be participating in the event. Delhi government has promised to contribute its bit by ensuring that all government buildings in the city will turn off all non-essential lights during the Earth Hour. We will come out with a campaign,along with WWF the official organizers of the event in India. All ASI buildings,government buildings, shopping areas, etc, will be part of the initiative. Hotels can specially organize candlelight dinners on this day. While the move is purely symbolic, it is extremely important for conservation of the environment, said chief minister Sheila Dikshit.

Earth Hour is a concept that took shape in Australia in 2007 when about 2.2 million residents of Sydney turned their lights off for one hour. This was a symbolic gesture by the city to join in the fight against climate change. A year later,the movement spread to other parts of the world, with over 50 million people from 35 countries joining hands to take it forward. India formally joined the programme in 2009 when over 64 countries took part.

Despite the initiative being completely voluntary, India saw an overwhelming response to the WWF-organized event. Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore were the official partners though by the end of it, several cities across the country pledged their support, including Hyderabad, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Amritsar and Chandigarh. In Delhi, several corporates and resident welfare associations joined hands to make the event a success during which 700MW of power was also saved.

Abhishek Bachchan this years brand ambassador for Earth Hour said the movement had become necessary and we should strive for a day when we don’t need an Earth Hour. He said: “Circumstances call for a slightly more aggressive stand and now we cannot just appeal to people to save the environment.I will request the film industry and producers organization to ensure any shootings,events,etc,scheduled during the Earth Hour should also observe lights-out.” Source: MagicBrick