Earth Hour to Take Place March 23

By Jeremy Del Nero on 22 March 2013
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The BMW Welt in Munich

The BMW Welt in Munich

The seventh annual Earth Hour will take place this year on March 23rd at 8:30 p.m. local time. Earth Hour is a worldwide effort to raise environmental awareness. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) calls on individuals, organizations, institutions, and businesses to take part in the event by turning off unnecessary lights and appliances as well as limit the use of cars and other energy-consuming modes of transportation for the one-hour segment.

Earth Hour organizers hope to go beyond the hour of collective impact by inspiring positive behavioral and lifestyle change.

Last year’s Earth Hour reached all seven continents and took place in thousands of cities in over 135 countries and territories.  Many landmarks including Buckingham Palace, the Eiffel Tower, the Empire State Building, the Golden Gate Bridge, Mount Rushmore, Niagara Falls, the Sydney Opera House, and hotels and casinos along the Las Vegas Strip turned off their lights in observance in recent years.

Various hotel chains and businesses are participating in the event.   As in past years, many companies have already announced plans to observe Earth Day.  In Munich, BMW will once again turn off interior and exterior lights at its four-cylinder headquarters building and neighboring BMW Museum.  Last year it turned off the exterior lighting for the BMW Welt and the interior lighting were dimmed, allowing visitors to continue enjoy the building and dine by candlelight in the building’s restaurants.

Ritz Carlton hotels will be exercising their environmental responsibility program by turning off non-essential lighting on its properties.  New World Hotels plans on reducing its footprint by 15% this year, compared to their 11% achievement in 2012.  Thirteen hotels in Macao are going above and beyond, creating their own Earth Hour for the first Tuesday of every month.

Earth Hour began in 2007 in Sydney with 2.2 million Australians turning off their lights. It is now the single largest mass collaboration aimed at environmental and sustainability awareness.

(Photo: Accura Media Group)

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