“In its sixth year, with hundreds of millions of people taking part in Earth Hour, we want to go beyond the hour to encourage positive action for the environment,” said Earth Hour Co-Founder and Executive Director, Andy Ridley. WWF, which is behind the annual event that encourages people to switch off their lights for an hour on the last Saturday evening of March, is moving its global Earth Hour headquarters from Sydney to Singapore in May. Read More

By Feng Zengkun in The Straits Times (21 February 2012):

EARTH Hour, a global climate change movement, is making Singapore its home.

The agency, which is behind the annual event that encourages people to switch off their lights for an hour on the last Saturday evening of March, is moving out of its global headquarters in Sydney to come to these parts by May. And it will be hiring people here to fill its ranks.

The group has eight members, four of whom will move here. It plans to recruit four full-timers here and more temporary staff for its events.

Earth Hour executive director and co-founder Andy Ridley said in a press conference at Ion Orchard yesterday that Singapore is well placed to move the campaign forward.

‘Sydney is the most beautiful city and we’ll be sad to move from there, but it’s a long way from the rest of the world,’ he said. ‘Moving here makes total sense geographically.’

He added that Singapore is great for business and communications, and brilliant for digital work. It also has ‘great people who can work for us’, he said.

Earth Hour started in Sydney in 2007. By last year, it had spread to more than 5,000 cities and towns across 135 countries, rapidly gaining traction in India, Indonesia, China, Latin America and the United States.

Its Singapore headquarters is expected to lead its outreach to businesses.

A key objective of the movement is to get people to go ‘beyond the hour’ in protecting the planet.

Its offices will be at Tanglin International Centre, located on the former grounds of the Ministry of Education in Kay Siang Road.

The building, now a dedicated space for non-profit groups, is already home to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Wildlife Conservation Society. The Singapore Environment Council and Fauna & Flora International are expected to move in this year.

About 135 international non-profit organisations are now using Singapore as a regional or global base.

The Economic Development Board (EDB) aims to get 150 such international non-profit groups from all sectors here by 2015, creating 2,500 jobs in the process.

Mr Goh Chee Kiong, the EDB’s director of clean technology, said at the press conference that Asia will play an increasingly major role in the ‘global sustainability landscape’ and Singapore will help to implement green initiatives in the region.

This year’s Earth Hour takes place on March 31 at 8.30pm. The Singapore event will be in Orchard Road and organisers are hoping for a 6,000-strong turnout.

The campaign theme, revealed yesterday, is ‘I Will If You Will’. It is aimed at encouraging people to make longer-term green pledges.

Former model and WWF Singapore’s official Earth Hour ambassador Nadya Hutagalung, for example, has pledged to dive with sharks off southern Australia alongside Mr Ridley if 10,000 people pledge not to use plastic bags and straws for the rest of the year.

Source: www. mfa.gov.sg

From WWF’s Earth Hour office (1 March 2012):

From Times Square to the Sydney Opera House, Brunei to Lithuania, the tallest building on the planet to an Inuit igloo, the world will once again celebrate the largest voluntary action for the environment as the lights switch off for Earth Hour, on 31 March.

Earth Hour has grown from a one-city initiative in 2007, to a 5,251 city strong global movement, last year reaching 1.8 billion people in 135 countries across all seven continents.

“In its sixth year, with hundreds of millions of people taking part in Earth Hour, we want to go beyond the hour to encourage positive action for the environment,” said Earth Hour Co-Founder and Executive Director, Andy Ridley.

“We have created a new element, ‘I Will If You Will’, to offer the incentive to share the dream amongst us all. The power of social media enables us to unite the global community in the endeavour to protect the planet,” he said.

The “I Will If You Will” digital platform created in partnership with Leo Burnett, is the result of a collaboration with YouTube, therefore bringing together the world’s biggest social video platform with the world’s largest action for the environment.

Earth Hour’s new “I Will If You Will” campaign uses the YouTube video platform youtube.com/earthhour to encourage people to share a personal dare with the world, by asking “What are you willing to do to save the planet?” “I Will If You Will gives every individual the opportunity to inspire their friends, colleagues and neighbours to take sustainability actions not just on the hour but beyond the hour. The challenges we are seeing from all walks of life are truly inspiring,” said Ridley.

Earth Hour Kids’ ambassador Pocoyo has doubled his “I Will If You Will” challenge after reaching its target of 10,000 within days. Pocoyo will now plant 20,000 trees if 20,000 people play his recycling game on EarthHour.org.

The President of Fiji, 70 year old Epeli Nailatikau, announced he will walk 30 kilometres to raise awareness of climate issues if businesses, non-government organisations and government departments in Fiji take clear-cut actions that will benefit our environment.

A diverse range of supporters including Stephen Fry and Yoko Ono have already engaged with Earth Hour and “I Will If You Will” on Twitter.

The concept of “I Will If You Will” centres around providing a social contract for two parties – connecting one person, business or organisation to a promise and their friends, family, customers or members to a challenge.

The YouTube platform hosts a global library of “I Will If You Will” challenges, and encourages people to share their “dare” publically through Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and email. Friends can be invited to participate and accept each challenge using these popular social networks.

Earth Hour 2012 will take place at 8.30pm – 9.30pm on Saturday 31 March.

Source: www.earthhour.org