West Midlands frontrunners in Earth Hour challenge

• Mar. 25 by Tamar (0)

The West Midlands is currently in 10th place in the ‘Earth Hour’ challenge set by the World Wildlife Fund.

The West Midlands has contributed greatly since the campaign first began and this year is just 118 signatures behind ninth place in the entire United Kingdom and Ireland backing the Earth Hour challenge.

Despite Birmingham City Council being absent from the sign up list, they have stated that they will be taking part in the ‘Earth Hour’ campaign. Project Manager for Suitability in Birmingham City Council, Chandra Quarsia is eager to encourage Birmingham schools, organisations and individuals to sign up to the campaign propelling the West Midlands further up the Earth Hour table.

Organisations in the Birmingham area who have signed up to the campaign include The Birmingham and Midland Institute. However, Administrator of the Birmingham and Midland Institute Philip Fischer has stated that the building’s lights are turned off around 6pm and therefore their lights will be turned off at the given time of 8:30pm regardless.

This prompts the question of how many other organisations and schools have signed up knowing that their lights will be turned off at 8:30pm anyway?

In spite of this, the WWF are keen to motivate the entire world into contributing towards their efforts in benefiting the environment in a positive way.

Supporting this campaign are many well known individuals including Archbishop Desmond Tutu stating that; “Earth Hour is an opportunity for every man, woman and child from all corners of the globe to unite and show the world that by working together we can win the battle against global warming.

The World Wildlife Fund began its campaign in 2007 entitled ‘Earth Hour’. This annual campaign aims to encourage countries around the world to turn off their lights for one hour on the last Saturday in March, in order to help save the planet.

By decreasing electricity usage for one hour, thousands of tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions are cut, thereby benefiting the environment on a large scale.

The date set this year prompting lights to be turned off across the globe, has been set at 8:30pm on Saturday the 27th March 2010.