World Earth Hour: Plunging into darkness for a brighter future

KARACHI: The city of lights will plunge into darkness on March 26 for an hour from 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm, and while many may think it’s a nasty trick by the electricity company, it would actually be people all over the city switching off their lights to be part of a global movement.

This year, Pakistan will be celebrating its second Earth Hour, along with 128 countries across the world.

The campaign came to Pakistan through the World Wildlife Fund-Pakistan (WWF-P), which launched the Earth Hour in the country in 2010. It was inaugurated by the prime minister at Governor House, Lahore, and parliamentarians at the National Assembly, Islamabad and all the provincial assemblies participated.

This year’s campaign would be officially launched in Karachi on February 15, at which invitations to the corporate sector, schools and other participants would be sent out.

Marriyum Aurangzeb, the head of corporate relations at WWF-Pakistan, also an environment expert, told The Express Tribune that while Pakistan’s contribution to both global warming and climatic change is low in comparison to that of other industrialised countries, “we still live in a very active neighbourhood”.

She said that because India and China are among the top contributing countries, Pakistan needs to start thinking about environment control. “Being part of this region, we need to take adaptive measures and see what our control and strategy is,” she said.

For the Earth Hour, WWF contacts the public via its student members from schools and universities in Karachi and other cities as well as through corporate organisations.

“The response last year was immense. It was endorsed by the government and many corporate organisations, that in turn held different candlelight activities in that one dark hour to show the importance of the action,” she said.

With enormous media support and advertising, millions of people from all walks of life turned off their lights and joined together in celebration and contemplation, she added.

To participate in the Earth Hour, you can log on to http://www.wwfpak.org/earthhour to register

Published in The Express Tribune, February 11^th, 2011.