The third edition of the movement calling on Brazilians to take part in this huge clamour for a more sustainable way of life will take place on March 26 at 08:30 pm.
Once again Brazil is getting ready for large-scale participation in WWF-Network’s Earth Hour event in which people around the world switch off their lights for 60 minutes in the world’s biggest single mobilisation against global warming. WWF-Brazil will be running the third national edition of the event on March 26 at 8:30 pm.
This Tuesday’s (22) adherence of the Brazilian Mayors Organisation (Frente Nacional de Prefeitos-FNP) to the Earth Hour movement is a great achievement. “It is a tremendous gain in terms of multiplying the initiative among the municipalities. The idea is for Brazil to participate in an intense and creative manner that will put it in a leading position in this worldwide movement”, enthuses WWF-Brazil´s Earth Hour director Regina Cavini.
“It is in the municipalities that people’s daily lives take place. It is essential to take advantage of the power the mayors and municipal authorities have to mobilise and engage their populations. When we manage to get the mobilisation down to the municipal sphere it is reflected in the form of effective changes in society’s behaviour. We are expecting at least 10% of Brazilian municipalities to officially participate in the movement”, declared João Coser, mayor of Vitória (capital of Espirito Santo state) and president of the FNP during the signing ceremony of adherence to the Earth Hour initiative.
The FNP embraces all political parties and brings together around 400 mayors from the City halls of large and medium sized cities and the big metropolitan regions, among which are 26 State Capitals and 11 cities with over a hundred thousand inhabitants, that is, 40% of the entire Brazilian population.
In 2010, Brazilians in 98 cities, including 20 state capitals, switched off their lights to show their concern about the global warming. National icons like the statue of Christ the Redeemer, the famous Cable-stayed Bridge in São Paulo, the National Congress Building and the Amazonas Theatre were all kept in darkness for sixty minutes.
Mobilisation for Earth Hour 2011 has already begun. The site www.horadoplaneta.org.br is already online to provide citizens, companies and organisations with information, and receive comments and suggestions. The advertising agency ‘141 Soho Square’, has developed this years publicity campaign this year producing material to be run in the printed media, and on TV, radio and the internet. “The campaign uses simple language that will find resonance in all spheres of society “, explains 141 Soho Square CEO Mauro Motorin.
The 60+ Platform
Earth Hour continues to gather force as more and more people take on responsibility for demonstrating that it is feasible to confront the threats posed by climate change by means of collective actions. To ensure that the Earth Hour ideals make themselves felt on every day of the year, WWF-Brazil is launching a platform called “60+”, a mobilisation tool designed to involve people in concrete actions that lead them to change their daily habits. This year the “60+” campaign will be focussing on the question of recycling. The idea is to inform and influence Brazilians in regard to the importance of separating and recycling waste and to involve
governments, companies and society at large.
About Earth Hour
Earth Hour is a WWF Network global initiative to address climate change. Since it was first run in 2007 the Earth Hour movement has never stopped growing. What began as an isolated event in a single city (Sidney, Australia), has now become a global action involving hundreds of millions of people in more than 4,400 cities and 128 countries.
The first time the event took place, 2 million people switched off their lights. In 2008 more than 50 million people around the world took part. In 2009 when WWF-Brazil ran the Earth Hour event in Brazil for the first time, almost 1 billion people on the planet switched off their lights. Some of the world’s most famous monuments like the pyramids of Egypt, the Eiffel Tower, the Acropolis in Athens and even the city of Las Vegas were kept in darkness for sixty minutes.
About WWF-Brazil
WWF-Brazil is a Brazilian non-governmental organization dedicated to the conservation of nature aiming to harmonize human activity with biodiversity conservation and to promote the rational use of natural resources for the benefit of current and future generations. WWF-Brazil was created in 1996 in Brasilia and has several projects all over the country and is part of the International Network Environmental Organization WWF, which works in more than 100 countries and counts on the support of around 5 million people worldwide, including associates and volunteers.
WWF-Brasil Press Services:
Maristela Pessoa: + 55 (61)3364-7464 - maristela@wwf.org.br
Denise Oliveira: Head of Comms: + 55 (61) 3364.7497 – doliveira@wwf.org.br
wwf.org.br
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