Earth Hour 2020 tackles scourge of climate change

THE countdown to the Earth Hour Challenge, one of the most significant days on the global environmental calendar, has begun.

Residents of Johannesburg are expected to join millions of people across the rest of the world in switching off their lights and non-essential appliances between 8:30pm and 9:30pm on Saturday, 28 March to mark Earth Hour in solidarity against climate change.

The City has partnered with the Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA) to celebrate Earth Hour by switching off the lights of iconic buildings and landmarks such as the Nelson Mandela Bridge, the Metro Centre as well as other municipal owned buildings around the city.

In 2017, an estimated 50 million people across 35 countries switched off their lights to observe Earth Hour. This year’s initiative – #EarthHour2020 – aims to motivate one billion people in more than 1 000 cities across the globe to switch off their lights and take a stand together against global warming.

Earth hour – the global phenomenon to raise awareness of climate change – is an initiative of the World Wide Fund (WWF) held on the last Saturday of March annually. It started as a symbolic lights-out event in Sydney over 10 years ago and has since grown into a global movement urging households and businesses to turn-off electricity for one hour to raise awareness about climate change and the effect it has on the planet.

This year, the theme is “Climate Action and Sustainable Development” and the focus is on protecting biodiversity and highlighting the broader issue of sustainability.

Cllr Mpho Moerane, the Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) for Environment and Infrastructure Services says Earth Hour draws attention to the City’s efforts – including concrete policies and programmes – to reduce the municipal carbon footprint and mitigate climate change.

“Load-shedding is already impacting us daily, but I want to believe that this will not be our future. It is clear that our current energy supply shortage coupled with the climate crisis is a unique opportunity to make fundamental changes to the way in which we run our country,” says MMC Moerane.

One of the City’s strategic priorities talks to sustainable environmental development and as part of this commitment, the municipality is developing a strategic Climate Action Plan as outlined in outcome 2 of the Growth and Development Strategy (GDS2040) that envisions a resilient, sustainable urban environment and liveable city. It also commits to climate-change mitigation and identifies the scourge as a cross-sectoral imperative for the municipality.

Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram will be used to call on residents to participate in the challenge by posting pictures and videos of their Earth Hour stories.

This year’s Earth Hour comes at a time when South Africa is overwhelmed by the Covid-19 pandemic, commonly referred to as Corona Virus. We urge residents to remain calm and support the national response to slow down the spread of the virus by washing their hands frequently and maintaining social distancing.