Focusing on more than just electricity

THIS year’s theme for Earth Hour, a World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) initiative, is: How do you honour the Earth?

An environmental organisation has answered this positive challenge by appealing to its more than 500 members not only to switch off their lights for Earth Hour today but also to go a little further.

The Port Elizabeth branch of the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (Wessa) has partnered with an e-waste company to help responsible residents dispose of their unwanted electronic goods in an ecofriendly manner.

“This [Earth Hour] is an opportunity to raise awareness around environmental issues. And collecting e-waste goes beyond the hour. It’s up to us to decide whether we want to leave a negative imprint through our actions or a positive handprint,” Wessa conservation officer Morgan Griffiths said this week.

TVs will be switched off, while use will be made of a solar panel, LED lamps and an induction stove today at Griffiths’s home.

Some see Earth Hour as an opportunity to have romantic candlelit dinners, while others use the occasion to spend quality time together.

WWF-SA communications manager Pedzi Gozo said: “If we all add our voice by sharing our promise [to the Earth], we not only uphold our own best intentions but we can motivate those around us.”

In 2007, 2.2 million households switched off their lights for one hour in Sydney, Australia, kicking off the global phenomenon that has become known as Earth Hour.