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[av_heading heading=’‘Go beyond 1 hour for Mother Earth’’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”][/av_heading]
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Sunday, April 2, 2017
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BACOLOD City – Negrenses were urged to observe “Earth Hour” not just once a year.
The annual observance can be done “everyday, every week, every month for the rest of the year,” said Dr. Al O. Orolfo, director of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in the Negros Island Region.
Earth Hour is a worldwide movement organized by the World Wide Fund for Nature. The event is held annually encouraging individuals, communities, households and businesses to turn off their non-essential lights for one hour, from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. towards the end of March, as a symbol for their commitment to the planet.
Orolfo said Negrenses must go beyond just an hour of switching off lights to help preserve Mother Earth.
“It is also using wisely our gadgets, appliances at home and cars that can be a demonstration of our actions to mitigate climate change,” said Orolfo.
Earth Hour was started as a lights-off event in Sydney, Australia in 2007. Since then, it has grown to engage more than 7,000 cities and towns across 172 countries worldwide.
This year, Earth Hour was observed on March 25. Here, Negrenses gathered at SM City Bacolod grounds for the official program.
“The Philippines, now being an official signatory of the Paris agreement, therefore this is the result of our previous actions done. We must not rest our efforts there and continue to make people understand and that climate change is beyond political issue but rather a present phenomenon,” said Orolfo.
Councilor Em Ang, meanwhile, said the Sangguniang Panlungsod demonstrated its commitment by passing a resolution every year urging Bacolodnons to actively participate in the switching off of lights in celebration of the Earth Hour.
“For this year, the focus is on the role of young people in making the Philippines a climate change-resilient country, which is but right because they are the ones to inherit this earth we are living,” Ang said.
Ang also affirmed Orolfo’s call to go beyond the hour.
“I hope we all go home remembering that our solutions to climate change does not involve only one hour every year. It has to be a continued effort on all of us to make our world climate change resilient,” said Ang.
The Earth Hour Global webpage states:
“Earth Hour does not purport to be an energy / carbon reduction exercise, it is a symbolic action. Therefore, we do not engage in the measurement of energy / carbon reduction levels for the hour itself. Earth Hour is an initiative to encourage individuals, businesses and governments around the world to take accountability for their ecological footprint and engage in dialogue and resource exchange that provides real solutions to our environmental challenges. Participation in Earth Hour symbolizes a commitment to change beyond the hour.” (PIA-Negros Occidental/PN)
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