60 minutes for Mother Earth : Earth Hour 2013

On March 23, 2013, at 8:30 till 9:30 at night, the world will turn into a sea of darkness again for one hour, lights will be turned off in homes and establishments,  and for those 60 minutes, out of the 8784 hours the entire year, we can show our concern for the only home we all have.     Earth Hour is a movement that was conceptuatlized to raise awareness regarding climate change in 2007 in Sydney, Australia.    Starting from its beginnings in 2007 where only 2.2 Australian households and only 2,000 establishments turned off lights, participation gradually increased and in 2012, about 128 countries joined the annual undertaking.

There are people who are sceptical about the Earth Hour because they do not see the effect of one hour 'lights out' to our environment.     Well, one hour is not really something to crow about,  but if more and more people participate, it means that there is an increased awareness of the problems that we are currently facing regarding our environment, such as global warming.   And this participation can translate into individual efforts to reduce, recycle and reuse the items around us in order to lessen or prevent the piling up of trash or garbage in our backyard.   Earth Hour is a start or a kick off for the younger generation to be active in energy conservation and garbage management.  Even if only for this reason, Earth Hour should be continued for the next 500 years.   A global activity should be observed yearly to demonstrate a united effort for  Mother Earth.    So let's all turn off the lights in our homes, turn off televisions, don't use our cars, and just simply sit back and relax on March 23.