Earth Hour raises funds for green projects

MANILA, Philippines - Lights went off in some 7,000 cities around the world in yesterday’s Earth Hour event, which aimed to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for environmental projects worldwide, organizers said.

In the Philippines, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) noted that the number of communities and establishments joining Earth Hour has been increasing.

The WWF said it partnered with Megaworld, a leading real estate developer, in the switch-off activity in its 17-hectare Eastwood City township in Quezon City.

Kevin Tan, Megaworld first vice president and commercial division head, said the event “signifies Megaworld’s commitment in building townships that espouse environmental sustainability.”

Tan said, “It’s a wonderful alliance (between Megaworld and WWF) as it promotes green living for urban communities. More and more Filipinos are moving toward cities like Eastwood and McKinley Hill.”

“This event would inculcate in residents, tenants, employees and mallgoers of the townships that energy efficiency is a crucial step in minimizing humanity’s carbon footprint,” he added.

The switch-off was also held simultaneously last night in other Megaworld townships, including the 50-hectare McKinley Hill at Bonifacio Global City.

Earlier, Earth Hour Philippines national director Gia Ibay, who is also WWF-Philippines climate change program director, said the Philippines has since 2009 topped participation in terms of the number towns and cities, earning the distinction of being an “Earth Hour Hero Country.”

Ibay said the Eastwood Mall Open Park and SM Mall of Asia are just two of the venues where the event has been observed.

WWF-Philippines vice chairman and CEO Jose Ma. Lorenzo Tan said Earth Hour is not just a simple switching-off of lights. “Doing simple things like taking the stairs or switching to energy-saving bulbs can help combat climate change,” he said.

Green projects

The WWF partnered with payments giant PayPal to allow donors to contribute for specific projects in countries from Russia and India to Canada and Indonesia, using Asian fundraising site Crowdonomic.

“We are starting with around 20 projects this year, but our vision is to really expand once Saturday’s event has taken place,” said Earth Hour chief executive Andy Ridley.

“The projects have been chosen based on their scalability, so even if the target has not been met, a small amount of funds raised will still help implement an outcome on the ground,” Ridley said.

Projects under the “Earth Hour Blue” crowdfunding scheme – which aims to raise more than $650,000 in total – include a turtle center in Italy and funding for forest rangers in Indonesia.

Earth Hour saw world landmarks, including the Sydney Opera House and Harbor Bridge, the Empire State Building, the Eiffel Tower and the Kremlin, switch off their lights for 60 minutes at 8:30 p.m. local time on Saturday. The event was marked in more than 150 countries, organizers said.

The event was coordinated from Singapore, with the stars of new movie “Amazing Spider-Man 2” helping switch off lights on the city-state’s skyline in the upmarket Marina Bay district.

Sofiah Jamil, adjunct research associate at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, who has been campaigning for environmental causes in Southeast Asia, welcomed the funding initiative.

“At the very basic level, such crowdfunding activities can potentially increase the visibility of Earth Hour and in turn awareness on environmental action,” Sofiah told AFP.

“I think the main way in which this is effective is that it allows a way of involving a wider section of people, who would previously perhaps not be involved, such as those with limited knowledge on how they can contribute and those who want to contribute with ease and convenience,” she said.

Earth Hour began in 2007 in Sydney, but the idea quickly spread around the world and hundreds of millions of people were estimated to have turned their lights off for the event last year.

The event is a symbolic action rather than one to reduce carbon pollution, but it has drawn criticism, including from Danish political scientist Bjorn Lomborg, who argues it does little for the real problem of global warming and diverts resources from other problems.

“This celebration of darkness sends the wrong message,” Lomborg said in a statement this week.

“While more than a billion people across the globe make a symbol of forgoing non-essential electrical power for one hour a year, another 1.3 billion people across the developing world will continue to live without electricity as they do every other night of the year,” Lomborg said.

Anna Rose, national Earth Hour manager for Australia, said it was obvious that switching lights off for one hour would not solve the world’s environmental problems, but she said the event had raised awareness about climate change in the community.