Blogger: Adam Murray, Communications Officer
If you keep travelling East from our region and then down a bit you will find yourselves in the beautiful friendly isles of Fiji. This time last year I was working in Fiji running environmental campaigns across the Pacific. Yes, I know sounds a bit fancy but most of the time it was really hard graft. You're still not feeling sorry for me right? OK, there were some perks. At weekends we would sometimes use the local rate and stay a night at the fancy pants 5 star hotels that all the smug honeymoon couples and overly tanned retirees would frequent. On the 26th March last year m'lady and I were staying at one of these along the Coral Coast (a treat for my birthday weekend) and were pleasantly surprised to find that such a large hotel was going to take part in the global event that is Earth Hour. This is where we all have the opportunity to turn of all our electricty for just 60 minutes. The hotel set up some sweet tea light lanterns in the shape of a big 60 ready for 8.30pm. As the time approached the hotel turned off all their lights and the beautiful BIG 60 was set alight - literally paper bags ablazing - the one poor soul in charge of heath and safety looked panicked.
Ironically, in true Fiji Style, the band, with their large electrical amps continued to play sweet music to the residents to make it more atmospheric - slightly losing the point of the hour. All in all in did get people chatting about how simple actions can help towards climate change. The origin of the campaign can be traced back to Australia in 2007 when businesses and residents in Sydney turned off their lights for one hour to make a statement about energy use and global warming.
So just think if they can turn off the lights on the Eiffel Tower and Big Ben, as well as over 4,000 cities from 131 countries, then surely turning off the lights in your home this Saturday should be easy. Just think about how enjoyable the peace and quiet and the fun you can get up to in the dark. "Earth Hour is your chance to vote for Earth by shutting down your lights between 8.30 p.m. and 9.30 p.m. your local time," the WWF website reads.
Whether you are worried about world scale changes to the planet, climate change shifting migrations of our beloved birds or worried about sea level rises to those low lying Pacific islands or even in our own region - Earth Hour is our chance to take action. Show us your before and after photos here or on our Facebook page.