Earth Hour 2021: Theme, History and Celebrations

Earth Hour 2021 is a global event to unite people to take action on environmental issues to protect our planet. In 2007, the event was organized by WWF for the first time in Sidney, Australia. Since then, Earth Hour has been celebrated every year to inspire individuals and organizations to take the necessary steps to rejuvenate the planet.

Earth Hour is a one-hour light off event held annually towards the end of March. It is held on the last Saturday of March annually. This year in 2021, the Earth Hour event has held on 27th March from 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm. Once again, people across the world were ready to celebrate the event with great enthusiasm.

Earth Hour – History of the Global Event

In the first year in 2007, Earth Hour was celebrated by 2.2 million people in Sydney, Australia. WWF has started this global event as an initiative to encourage people across the world to take accountability for their ecological footprint and engage in resource exchange that provides real solutions to our environmental issues.

Next year, the event stretched to an international platform where some of the major landmarks such as The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and The Colosseum in Rome went dark on Earth Hour.

In 2009, the event became the world’s largest grassroots movement for the environment. It broke all records of mass participation from many countries. From this year onwards, the Earth Hour accelerated to spread awareness for sustainable changes for environmental challenges.

The “PLUS” sign was incorporated into the Earth Hour logo in 2011. This sign signifies the campaign’s evolution beyond the hour.

Russia in 2012 passed a law to protect its seas from oil pollution. WWF-Russia launched a digital petition for Earth Hour collected almost 120,000 signatures.

In 2014, Galapagos Islands (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) became the first province in Ecuador to pass a law prohibiting disposable plastic bags & packaging.

Earth Hour 2015 was a record-breaking event when 172 countries and territories took part in the celebrations with 620,000 actions taken against climate change.

In 2017, Earth Hour completed ten years of successful journey. Then comes Earth Hour 2020 when people could not celebrate the global event physically due to COVID-19. Hence, the whole world took part in the event digitally using social media as a platform for celebration.

Earth Hour 2021 – Activities and Events

All the latest updates:

Latest Update 6:

The earth hour event 2021 went successfully. People from all over the world celebrated digitally and various celebrations like dancing competitions held online live through video calls. People celebrated in candle lights to save energy. You can find all the other previous updates about what all happened before the event below:

Latest Update 5:

The Earth Hour is going to be in digital celebration for the second time now in light of the COVID situation. So, the Adria branch of the World Wildlife Fund from Italy has planned a unique way of celebrating it. They have organized a music and dance festival on ZOOM featuring various popular singers.

Citizens will move to the tunes of this event while the lights are out. This will create a sense of solidarity for the cause. The executive director of WWF Adria Branch said that citizens have to be empowered to fight climate change. This is possible only when we create widespread awareness. Adria is creating this awareness while also making it fun for all its citizens.

Latest Update 4:

A city in the Philippines will use Earth Hour as an opportunity to nudge citizens towards recycling. They have created an activity that promotes sustainability and wise use of resources. It is the Araneta city which is also known as the “city of firsts” because of such initiatives.

The city administration has got together in partnership with the “Environmental Protection and Waste Management Department” and BEST Inc. They have set up a kiosk at a business center where people can get shopping points in exchange for recyclable waste material.

They will also have an ‘Earth Hour Virtual Spotlight’. During this activity, they will showcase a special video created by the World Wildlife Foundation on all their social media channels.

Check Virtual spotlight here.

Update 3:

On Earth Hour 2021, WWF is going to host a guided meditation for individuals across the United States led by Internationally celebrated yoga teacher and scholar Dr. Chelsea Jackson Roberts.

The actual purpose of this meditation program is to create a peaceful moment to calm our minds from busy schedules, practice gratitude for the planet & the services it provides, and reflect on our commitment to save our planet.

Update 2:

A global assessment of biodiversity targets has shown that the world has failed to meet the 2020 deadline for achieving the targets set for preventing environmental loss a decade ago.

There were many catastrophic incidents last yeast year like extreme weather events, destructive wildfires, and quite obvious the COVID-19 pandemic, etc. that have played the role of major hindrances in achieving this goal.

Macro Lambertini, Director General, WWF International said that the current socio-economic models are leading to the massive destructions of the environment which is increasing our vulnerability to pandemics, pushing climate change, and placing livelihood at risk.

Earth Hour 2021 is a crucial year for mankind as the world needs to put all efforts to recover the loss of the COVID-19 pandemic by placing nature at the center.

Update 1:

Earth Hour 2021 is going to be a special global event this year. It will be the first-ever Earth Hour “Virtual Spotlight” this year.

This year, among the current global issues, WWF is inviting people to raise awareness and create an unforgettable sight online. You can simply share the must-watch videos to your peer groups to raise awareness that will be posted on all the social media pages of EARTHHOUR.ORG. You can follow Instagram/ Facebook/ Twitter to stay tuned with the uploading of the must-watch videos.

The on-ground and online events are yet to be revealed by EARTHHOUR.ORG. You can browse the directory to attend the events but make sure you check the local COVID-19 country guidelines before attending an event.

Earth Hour Day 2021 will be celebrated on 27th March worldwide from 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm. It brings an ample opportunity for us.

This year, the world leaders will sit together during major global conferences and set the environmental agenda for the next decade and beyond.

The world leaders will take crucial political decisions on environmental conditions and sustainable development. These decisions will directly affect the future of humanity and our planet for the years to come.

With everyone’s support, Earth Hour 2021 could be the main attention that puts the environment at the center of international conversations. Together we can take responsibility and show the world leaders that the environment matters a lot for everyone. Hence, immediate actions are needed to reverse the loss of the environment.

WWF, Scotland will recruit an Intern (Campaigns Assistant-13 weeks) to support Earth Hour 2021 campaign in Scotland. It is an excellent opportunity to gain experience with a high-profile and leading NGO. You can grab this opportunity to develop your skills.

Earth Hour 2021 Theme

The Earth Hour 2021 theme will focus on “Climate Change to Save Earth.” Climate change is real, and it is affecting us in one way or another. We should unite together and fight with it.

Earth Hour Event – All Themes From Beginning

• Theme 2020 Earth Hour- “Climate Action and Sustainable Development”
• 2019 Theme Earth Hour– “#Connect2Earth”
• 2018 Theme Earth Hour- “Biodiversity”
• 2017 Theme Earth Hour- “Our Choice for the Plane”
• 2016 Theme Earth Hour- “Shine a Light on Climate Action”
• 2015 Theme Earth Hour- “Change Climate Change”
• 2014 Theme Earth Hour- “Use Your Power to Make Change a Reality”
• 2013 Theme Earth Hour- “I Will if You Will”
• 2012 Theme Earth Hour- “I Will if You Will”
• Theme 2011 Earth Hour- “Go Beyond the Hour”
• 2010 Theme Earth Hour- “The power of individual action for a sustainable future”
• 2009 Theme Earth Hour- “Vote Earth”
• Earth Hour 2008 Tagline- We’ve Turned the Lights Out. Now it’s Your Turn.

Read More About Earth Hour Day in detail here.

How People Celebrated Last Year Earth Hour Day?

The theme of Earth Hour 2020 was based on “Climate Action and Sustainable Development”. The event was celebrated on 28th March 2020 from 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm.

Earth Hour is an international event where people from every corner of the planet organize many events and activities. Unfortunately, this is the first time the world celebrated Earth Hour 2020 digitally instead of physically due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This year, Earth Hour has delivered a message more pertinent where people raised awareness about the crisis of nature loss, climate change, and Global Warming. Despite facing difficult times, Earth Hour 2020 has become a big digital event with many social media impressions. Many digital events have been organized to spread awareness.

Earth Hour Official Tweeted to “Be creative on this Earth Hour event & take some time to de-stress, play board games with your family members and have a candlelit dinner. Show us how you are taking part using #EarthHour on your social media channel”.

Countries across the world, including WWF India, hosted many events digitally on this Earth Hour 2020. WWF India had put together these activities digitally that many individuals took part in.

Be the Voice for the Planet

Encourage individuals to take their pledge and lend their voice for mother Earth by recording & sharing their video messages. The video messages stating what you will give up to give back to the environment on this Earth Hour.

Take a Step Up for the Planet Challenge

Grammy award composer, Ricky Kej has created a music score, especially on Earth Hour 2020. People were asked to use this music score to do innovative dance moves utilizing the lockdown time.

Earth Hour Quiz

Earth Hour Quiz 2020 was organized where people took part and see your score on social media. It was a great opportunity to learn a little more about the planet.

Switch Off

Last but not least, switch off is quite obvious activity to perform on Earth Hour 2020. Many people all over the world switched off the lights for an hour to support this global event.

The countdown has begun for this year. Earth Hour 2021 is near. The time has come to take an oath to do our best to protect the environment and also to help stop the spread of COVID-19. By making some little efforts, we can control the environmental issues and make the planet a treasure of natural resources.