We seem to be bent on destruction. According to the World Wildlife Fund, we are ‘destroying forests, choking the oceans with plastic, decimating wildlife population sizes, and causing devastating changes to the climate. Wildlife population sizes have plummeted by 60% in less than 50 years. One in six species is at risk of extinction because of climate change. There could be more plastic in the sea than fish by 2050. We lose an area of forest the size of a football pitch every two seconds.’The future is bleak for the next generation. Nature gives us the things we need to live but we are impervious to doing our share in protecting what resources available in the here and now. The air we breathe, the water we drink, the provision for food and economy – all these might soon have a price tag if we continue this “business as usual” attitude.
Earth Hour, which started in Australia in 2007, hopes to bring attention to the urgency of saving the planet by turning off the lights for an hour and, under cover of darkness, talk about why we need to raise consciousness about our environment.
Davao City has joined the call of one hour of darkness since 2010 and has encouraged people, particularly the young, to join in the movement to save our planet.
WWF believes that ‘if people better understand what nature gives them – that it is not a ‘nice to have’ – they will try harder to protect it. Our global network is joining together to help connect people to the benefits and values of nature (and the danger of its loss) – a vital first step in building support for the global policy changes needed to reverse nature loss.’
