Earth Hour

Earth Hour started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia when 2.2 million homes and businesses turned their lights off for one hour to make their stand against climate change. Only a year later and Earth Hour had become a global sustainability movement with more than 50 million people across 35 countries participating. Earth Hour 2010 takes place on Saturday 27 March at 8.30pm (local time) and is a global call to action to every individual, every business and every community throughout the world. It is a call to stand up, to take responsibility, to get involved and lead the way towards a sustainable future.

"Millions of buildings around the globe will be dark for an hour on Saturday, March 28 as the third Earth Hour takes place. The event is organized by the World Wildlife Fund. It started in 2007 as a way of drawing attention to the dangers of climate change. The Earth Hour website says: “For the first time in history, people of all ages, nationalities, race and background have the opportunity to use their light switch as their vote – Switching off your lights is a vote for Earth, or leaving them on is a vote for global warming.” Organizers hope their message will reach a billion people. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Earth Hour promises to be “the largest demonstration of public concern about climate change ever attempted”."

The best websites to learn more about Earth Hour:  picked by educator Larry Ferlazzo:

World Prepares To Save Energy Tor An Hour. It’s designed for English Language Learners, and audio support is provided for the text.
Here’s a similar slideshow from the Reuters News Agency.
Reuters also has a video about events that happened on this day last year.
Earth Hour 2008 Around The World is a slideshow from the Boston Globe.
This is a short promotional video for the event that demonstrates its purpose pretty vividly.
Earth Hour Kids has a ton of online activities accessible to English Language Learners, and also has lessons plans for teachers.
Here’s an online video from MSNBC about Earth Hour events around the globe last year.
Earth Hour Around The World is another MSNBC slideshow — this time about events in 2009.
Earth Hour 2009 is from the Boston Globe’s Big Picture.

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