Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs
- Lights at public places and some temples in different cities including Mumbai, Kolkata and New Delhi were turned off between 8.30 p.m. and 9.30 p.m. as part of the global ‘Earth Hour’ event.
- Earth Hour was launched in 2007 by the World Wildlife Fund and its partners in Sydney, Australia.
- Earth Hour is described as the largest global grassroots movement for the environment.
Aim:
Earth Hour aims to increase awareness and spark global conversations on protecting nature, tackling the climate crisis, and working together to shape a brighter future for all.
Achievements:
- In Uganda it created the first “Earth Hour Forest” in 2013.
- Argentina used its 2013 Earth Hour campaign to help pass a Senate bill for 8.4 million acres of marine protected area in the country.
What time is Earth Hour?
- To participate one has to turn off the lights in their home from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. in your local time zone.
- How turning off the lights helps the environment
- According to the WWF, turning off the lights is a symbolic way to raise awareness about climate change.
- The planet is on track to reach over 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming, in doing so risking irreversible environmental degradation and runaway climate change that will affect all our societies and economies.
- The organization encourages participants to use their lights-off hour“doing something positive for our planet.
About WWF:
- The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is a Swiss-based non-governmental organization.
- It was founded in 1961.
- It works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment.
- It is the world’s largest conservation organization.
Funding:
WWF is a foundation with:
- 65% of funding from individuals and bequests,
- 17% from government sources (such as the World Bank, DFID, and USAID) and
- 8% from corporations.
Publication:
- The Living Planet Report is being published every two years by WWF since 1998.
- It is based on a Living Planet Index and ecological footprint calculation.
- WWF has launched several notable worldwide campaigns, including Earth Hour and Debt-for-nature swap.
- The current presidency lies with India since 2018.
- The President is Pawan Sukhdev.
SOURCE: THE HINDU, THE ECONOMIC TIMES, PIB
