A Lightbulb Moment for Earth Hour Participants

If things look a little dim tomorrow night between 8.30pm and 9.30pm, there’s a very good reason behind it. Earth Hour began right here in Sydney in 2007, with the inaugural event attracting around 2.2 million Sydneysiders as well as 2,100 businesses. Since then this initiative, which is designed to promote sustainability practices, has gained worldwide attention as more nations opt to observe the event and turn the lights off for an hour.

So what does this event really hope to achieve, beyond a heightened understanding of the world’s depleting resources?

It’s all about inspiration.

From its humble beginnings, the event has grown far beyond what its organisers could have imagined. It began with just one city, Sydney, and has grown to over 7,000 participating cities across 7 continents, with hundreds of millions of participants.

CEO and co-founder of Earth Hour, Andy Ridley, believes that Earth Hour’s mission is threefold:

‘To bring people together through a symbolic hour-long event. To galvanise people into taking action beyond the hour. And to create an interconnected global community sharing the mutual goal of creating a sustainable future for the planet.’

So while you’re flicking off the lights tomorrow night, why not consider what else you can do when the lights are back on.

As individuals and businesses are encouraged to become more sustainable, job opportunities for those who want to work with Mother Nature continue to grow. You could score yourself some great environmental karma by choosing roles in sustainability and climate policy, global warming and climate science or even environmental science.

So why not grab some friends, some candles and a fondue kit tomorrow night, and then jump online to see how else you can save the planet.