When the Australian branch of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) came up with the idea of Earth Hour last year, they thought they would start small with Sydney, progress to the rest of Australia in 2008 and then go global in time for the United Nations Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen in 2009.
The world, however, did not wait for 2009. Such was the success of the inaugural 2007 Sydney Earth Hour event, which saw over 2.2 million Sydneysiders participate, that this year, capital cities and hundreds of towns in Australia will be joined by major cities and regional centres around the globe for Earth Hour from 8pm to 9pm on March 29.
According to Andy Ridley, executive director of WWF Australia, the idea of turning the lights off for an hour to raise awareness of rising greenhouse gas emissions has already attracted 24 major "partner" cities, including Dublin, Chicago, Bangkok, Copenhagen and Vancouver.
These are only the cities that have registered officially and include the city government, media partners and sponsors. There are additionally 8000 businesses, well over 100,000 individuals and hundreds of local councils and towns, with more signing up daily.
"It is certainly a lot bigger than we thought it would be and I am not sure that we have any idea how big it is," Mr Ridley told The Epoch Times.
He said the idea had stemmed from a realisation that people were feeling overwhelmed with the enormity of climate change and helpless in the face of what individual actions might achieve.
"We wanted to illustrate the idea that it is the aggregate of everyone's actions that will start to make a difference with climate change," he said.
Emissions for Sydney dropped by 10.2 per cent during Earth Hour last year. "That is not a great deal, but the very fact that you can do that shows what can be done."
Mr Ridley and WWF colleagues in Australia had also looked at the effectiveness of other global initiatives like international rock concerts, but they felt that many people were just watching via television and not being encouraged to be proactive.
"I suppose we were just trying to think: 'It doesn't matter whether you are old or young, it doesn't matter what country you are in, you can in some way take part.'"
With that in mind, Mr Ridley said people had been "amazing" in the events they had initiated to participate.
Last year, for example, a couple in Sydney had already planned their wedding at a top end hotel in the city on the night.
"They changed it to an Earth Hour reception, so it was all candlelit."
Global initiatives this year will also be noticeable.
In the United States, the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz in San Francisco will turn off their lights along with Niagara Falls and the Boeing Headquarters in Chicago.
In the UK, there are hundreds of activities planned, including shutting off the lights at the 900-year-old Norwich Castle and also at Winchester Cathedral.
Scientists at Australia's Antarctic station have radioed in to say they have organised a special Earth Hour dinner for that night – it is presently nearly 24 hours of continuous daylight there – while the people of Fiji have let it be known that they are happy to participate too. It is Rugby Sevens in Hong Kong that night, Mr Ridley explained, and the Fijians have told him lights out will cut out any distractions from the televised game!
On a more serious note, Mr Ridley said WWF had planned to expand Earth Hour globally in 2009, specifically to coincide with the follow-on from the UN Climate Change Summit held last year in Bali. That will take place in Copenhagen some six weeks after the March 2009 Earth Hour.
"That is where the world is going to decide whether we are, or are not, going to deal with climate change," Mr Ridley said. "We set a big target or we don't."
Earth Hour was conceived as a way to send a clear message to politicians that despite tremendous pressure to make short-term political decisions, the environment was one area where the "longer, far-reaching decisions had to be made".
"The idea of Earth Hour is to provide a visual mandate to say we understand the problem, understand the pressure – let's start fixing the problem," he said.
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