Earth Hour organisers focus on daily energy cut-backs
Organisers of last month’s Earth Hour campaign to turn off lights plan to focus on reducing energy use every day.
This year was the biggest ever Earth Hour where people in a record 150 countries and territories took part in the symbolic action of turning off power for an hour.
According to WWF-Australia an initiative which began in 2007 in Sydney had grown to become the world’s largest voluntary action for the environment.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard said a simple idea had become a global success.
WWF-Australia said Queensland hosted Earth Hour Unplugged events across communities to get off the grid and reconnect with friends and family with a focus on acoustic entertainment and sustainably-sourced food.
WWF-Australia’s chief executive officer Dermot O’Gorman said Earth Hour demonstrated true power of people uniting to protect the planet.
“Earth Hour Unplugged events are a great opportunity to come together and show your commitment to a more sustainable future for the amazing planet that we call home,” Mr O’Gorman said.
He said WWF-Australia’s main focus was not the reduction for the hour but to create an awareness of the reduction in every day power use.
In the earlier years Energex has reported a reduction in energy use of up to 12.4 per cent on average for South-East Queensland.
As the focus had changed to everyday electricity awareness WWF made the decision monitoring was not required for this event, according to an Energex spokesperson through Facebook.