The world stands this evening at an hour for nature and protecting the planet. It is Earth Hour, which is a global event that takes place every year, at 8:30 pm local time on the last Saturday of March, and millions of people around the world unite by turning off the lights for an hour. To raise awareness of the issues facing the Earth, it is an hour not only for the sake of the planet but for the future

The last Saturday of March was chosen to establish the Earth Hour because it coincides with the date of the spring equinox, and the day and night are equal, which ensures the participation of most cities in the world at a close time of night in this event.

It's time for nature.. Egypt participates in the global initiative "Earth Hour" (turning off the lights and lighting candles for 60 minutes)

Earth Hour 2023

This Saturday evening, Earth Hour 2023 will be at 8.30pm when landmarks and homes around the world will turn off their lights, in more than 190 countries and territories, with the aim of highlighting the global importance of nature loss and climate change, and the need to work together to secure a brighter future for people and the planet.

This year, Earth Hour 2023 will create the largest hour for the Earth, with the wide participation of society and individuals, and international stars are expected to participate, including Malaysian singer-songwriter Z Avi, Miss Universe Pia Wurtzbach, German musician Peter Schilling, as well as Choi Si-won from Korea. South, from Super Junior.

Landmarks around the world are also expected to take part in the iconic moment of Earth Hour's pause, including the Sydney Opera House, China's Zhouzhuang in Kunshan, the Beijing National Speed Skating Hall, Taipei 101 in Taiwan, the Eiffel Tower in France, and the Empire State Building in New York. American.

Earth Hour 2023 logo

For the first time in its 17-year history, this year's Earth Hour will encourage people around the world to take a break from routine and daily distractions, and decide for themselves what they can do to take back the Earth, as millions of supporters gear up for this year's Earth Hour celebration, from During beach cleaning, tree planting and a variety of events that take place around the world.

One of the upcoming events of the day in celebration of Earth Hour 2023 is that a free live reggae concert in Jamaica will be held at Hope Royal Botanic Gardens from 6 pm to 10 pm EST, and fans will have the opportunity to experience a number of exciting performances while participating in Earth Hour.

WWF Cyprus also plans to merge the global campaign with its new local campaign called “Zero Food Waste.” The conference will include presentations on Cypriot agriculture from local farmers, interactive workshops for adults and children on composting, and performances. The event will end with performances from local bands and the main purpose of the event is to turn off the lights for an hour.

While the WWF in Mongolia will hold a sustainable fashion show with local fashion designers with the involvement of communities and individuals from all over Mongolia to focus on the concept of sustainable consumption, while Paraguay will hold a series of activities to promote plastic recycling and responsible consumption, where the running / walking event will take place on the 26th. March, where participants will be awarded a unique medal made of 100% recycled plastic. More than 3,300 plastic bottle caps were used in the production of these medals.

Earth Hour 2023 will be held under the slogan "It's time for nature", by turning off unnecessary lights and electrical appliances and lighting candles for an hour, from 8:30 to 9:30 pm today.

Turning off the lights and lighting candles in the new city of Sohag to celebrate Earth Hour - archive photo

Earth Hour goals

Earth Hour is an annual event that began in Sydney, Australia, at the initiative of the World Wide Fund for Nature in 2007, and became famous for the “lights out” moment. Individuals from all over the world turned off their lights to show symbolic support for the planet and to raise awareness of the environmental issues affecting it.

Earth Hour coincides with the continuation of the climate change crisis and expectations of a global temperature rise of more than 1.5 degrees Celsius in 2030, which is the limit set by the Paris Climate Agreement. Irreversible damage to the planet.

To achieve this, individuals, communities, businesses and governments must urgently step up their efforts to protect and restore the Earth. Earth Hour goals are to turn off the lights for 60 minutes and do positive things for the planet around the world.

The WWF warns that alarming and unprecedented rates of nature loss are putting species at risk of extinction, with increasing numbers of individuals and families in communities around the world losing their homes and access to basic necessities such as food, clean water and a livable environment.

The latest Living Planet Report issued by the World Wildlife Fund for the past year highlighted that one million species are now threatened with extinction and that global wildlife numbers have decreased by 69% since 1970, which prompted the World Wildlife Fund to warn that time is running out to address the climate crisis, and that the planet It is heading to breach the 1.5°C limit at the latest by early 2030, threatening global instability and irreversible environmental degradation.

And he considered that Earth Hour is more important than ever, to ensure that 2023 is the year of change required to reach this positive nature goal for 2030.

Ain Shams University participates in "Earth Hour" by turning off the lights - archive photo

Earth Hour 2023 in Egypt

Egypt has been participating in Earth Hour since 2009, when it started its participation in this global event at the time with more than 88 countries, 4,000 cities, and 929 famous landmarks around the world that turned off their lights during Earth Hour, while Egypt is one of the first Arab countries to participate in the initiative. The number of participants worldwide has reached more than 3.5 billion people.

In Egypt, coordination is taking place with a number of ministries, governorates, government agencies and agencies nationwide to participate in this event by turning off the lights of a number of important tourist attractions, according to Environment Minister Yasmine Fouad.