Cast of Amazing Spider-Man 2 joins Earth Hour in Singapore

MANILA, Philippines - WWF Singapore and Earth Hour Global announce the director, producers and cast of the upcoming motion picture The Amazing Spider-Man 2 will be coming to Singapore to celebrate this year’s global flagship event for Earth Hour, the world’s largest environmental grassroots movement, to be held on March 29, 8:30 p.m. at The Float@Marina Bay.

Spider-Man will join stars Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone and Jamie Foxx in the event, helping to switch off the lights across Singapore’s signature Marina Bay skyline. The stars will also be showing their support behind Earth Hour’s newly-launched crowd-funding and crowd-sourcing platform — Earth Hour Blue, with a message to individuals across the world to become superheroes for the planet.

“We’re excited that our first superhero ambassador for Earth Hour will join us for the global celebration of our planet in Singapore. Since moving to Singapore, one of the world’s greatest hub cities, Earth Hour has positioned itself in the region with a rapidly growing digital presence that has helped power our movement. Earth Hour Blue enables an everyday digital action that can inspire individuals to do something so powerful from the palm of their hand,” said Andy Ridley, CEO and co-founder of Earth Hour.

While Earth Hour has grown from a lights-out event to the world’s largest grassroots movement for the environment, the actual dedicated hour remains a key driver of wider engagement to act on environmental priorities across the world.

“The Earth Hour platform is an incredible way to engage businesses, governments and individuals to help protect the planet. In line with the spirit of this global campaign to inspire simple yet long-lasting changes that can positively impact the planet, our hope is that Singapore will be a global leader in inspiring sustainable actions,” says Elaine Tan, CEO of WWF-Singapore.

From its global headquarters in Singapore, Earth Hour has developed and launched Earth Hour Blue that enables anyone to support environmental projects all over the world. The stars of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 are among the first backers and supporters of Earth Hour Blue.

Andrew, who plays Peter Parker/Spider-Man, is supporting the Earth Hour Blue project “A Flame Called Hope.” It aims to provide clean bio-gas energy for local communities in Nepal, thereby reducing deforestation and providing an alternate means of livelihood for families in the area.

“I’m proud Spider-Man is the first superhero ambassador for Earth Hour because he shows we can all be superheroes when we realize the power we all have,” says Andrew. “Earth Hour is a movement that has created massive impact around the world.”

Emma Stone, who plays Gwen Stacy in the film, has chosen to support the Earth Hour Blue “Puppy Protectors” project, which trains sniffer dog puppies and their handlers to track animals, finds wildlife crime scenes, detects illegal trade items and chases down poachers with the rangers on the frontlines of Chitwan National Park, Nepal.

“Earth Hour gives you the power to inspire anyone, even if you’re just one person. There are great projects from the crowd, for the planet, happening all over the world,” says Emma.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 director Marc Webb is backing the “Power up a Ranger” project in Indonesia, which aims to provide better equipment for WWF Rangers protecting Indonesia’s endangered wildlife such as the Sumatran Tiger, Elephant, Rhino and Orangutan and their forest habitat.             

The director is also a judge in WWF Singapore’s film competition “Use Your Power,” which will engage young filmmakers across Singapore to produce engaging, innovative and creative short films that show the connection between people and environmental issues.

WWF-Singapore is also joining the Blue revolution through their crowd funding campaign to expose and end the illegal sale of target wildlife species within Singapore. The organization is also crowd-sourcing pledges from individuals and organizations for local sustainability actions such as raising air conditioner temperatures by one degree Celsius, switching to LED lights and reducing the consumption of plastic bags.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 became the most eco-friendly tent pole production in the history of Columbia Pictures. The environmental efforts, on set and off, were supported at every level — from producers, studio executives to cast and crew — and began as soon as the film went into pre-production.

“I’m very proud of the fact that The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is entirely carbon-neutral. We made a commitment to be as eco-conscious as possible during production itself, when we took a special effort to think green and avoid waste; now, completing that process with Earth Hour Blue is a wonderful testament to what we can achieve when we all work together,” says Jeff Blake, chairman, Worldwide Marketing and Distribution, Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Now run globally from Singapore at the heart of Asia, Earth Hour has rapidly grown to involve hundreds of millions of people from all walks of life and global landmarks across 7,000 cities and towns and 154 countries and territories.