Five New Zealand councils and community groups in Central Otago, Hastings, Selwyn, Tauranga, and Upper Hutt have won WWF-New Zealand funding to support their Earth Hour events and activities – joining with communities around the world for the global ‘lights out for the planet’ event, taking place at 8.30pm on Saturday 26 March 2011.
WWF-New Zealand’s Earth Hour Community Fund selected the winning group for their innovative community led-events that engage and inspire people towards collective action on sustainable living. The fund totals $11,000 this year, with grants supporting events and activities encouraging action during Earth Hour and beyond the hour, from Earth Hour acoustic concerts to sustainability education expos and workshops for residents.
“In New Zealand, local councils have been the main partners delivering Earth Hour community events for the last three years, and we are delighted this year to offer some of them our support through the new Earth Hour Community Fund,” said WWF-New Zealand Climate Change Campaigner, Lee Barry. “This year, Earth Hour’s global message is strongly focused on inspiring people to make a personal commitment to build on the momentum of Earth Hour and go beyond the hour.”
One recipient of the fund, Tauranga City Council, is running a ' Sixty 4 Sixty ' Earth Hour campaign , challenging Tauranga to go beyond the hour. Michelle Elborn, Sustainability Advisor for Tauranga City Council explains: "The idea of the ‘Sixty 4 Sixty’ Earth Hour campaign is to challenge sixty Tauranga businesses, schools or organisations to make commitments for sustainable action beyond Earth Hour. We thought this is a great way of showcasing positive action and highlighting how many small actions can collectively make a huge difference. "
Another recipient of the Earth Hour Community Fund, Clair Higginson, Coordinator for Central Otago's sustainable living programme said: “Our two Earth Hour expos in Roxburgh and Alexandra are community learning events. People can come along and learn the skills they need to get by - whether that's for environmental sustainability, coping on a budget or fending for ourselves in a crisis."
"We'll have speakers, displays and workshops on a whole range of topics including growing your own food, saving energy and money on power bills, raising hens, preparing and preserving food on a budget and making candles for Earth Hour."
Reflecting the community-led nature of Earth Hour, she said: "An Earth Hour celebration in the park with music will follow on after the expo in Alexandra - we don't have to plan that too much, our community will ensure it happens."
Communities elsewhere in New Zealand are also stepping up to celebrate Earth Hour in their own way; Carter Observatory in Wellington will host a free stargazing evening, and a resident in Auckland is hoping to hold a gathering with buskers and acoustic music in the Auckland Domain on Earth Hour night to raise funds for the Christchurch Earthquake appeal.
Earth Hour began as a single city event in 2007 and has since grown to become the world’s biggest voluntary action for the planet. In 2010, 1.25 million New Zealand adults were amongst hundreds of millions of people across 128 countries took part in Earth Hour.
“New Zealanders are strong supporters of Earth Hour, with large proportions of the population taking part over the last three years. It’s clear Kiwis want action on climate change, and are prepared to take personal action to do their bit,” said Ms Barry. “WWF is committed to making sure the government also takes strong action on climate change, which will make living sustainably easier for everyone.”
Earth Hour is open source enabling any council, community group or individual to organise their own event using free downloadable materials from www.earthhour.org. People can also visit http://www.wwf.org.nz/earth_hour/ to post details of Earth Hour events, find out what’s happening in your neighbourhood, connect to the global community, and make their ‘beyond the hour’ pledge.
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Notes to editors
The Earth Hour Community Fund 2011 was a contestable national fund run by WWF-New Zealand to support New Zealand councils’ and community groups’ Earth Hour events and programmes inspiring people in their locality to live sustainably.
The five successful councils are: Tauranga City Council, Hastings District Council, Lower Hutt City Council, Selwyn District Council, and Central Otago Rural Education Activities Programme.
About Earth Hour
Earth Hour is a global initiative in partnership with WWF. Individuals, businesses, governments and communities are invited to turn out their lights for one hour on Saturday March 26, 2011 at 8:30 PM to show their support for environmentally sustainable action. The event began in Sydney in 2007, when 2 million people switched off their lights. By 2010, Earth Hour had created history as the largest voluntary action ever witnessed with participation across 128 countries and every continent, including the world’s most recognized man-made marvels and natural wonders in a landmark environmental action.
About WWF
WWF is one of the world’s largest and most respected independent conservation organizations, with almost five million supporters and a global network active in more than 100 countries. WWF’s mission is to stop the degradation of the earth’s natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature, by conserving the world’s biological diversity, ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable, and promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption.
Notes to editors
Earth Hour 2011 will take place at 8.30pm, Saturday, 26 March, 2011. A special Earth Hour ‘60+’ logo reflecting the call to go ‘beyond the hour’ in 2011 can be obtained in hi-res at the following link: http://www.divshare.com/direct/13222108-5e9.zip
Interviews:
To speak with the Earth Hour global team, or to add your name to the global media distribution list, please contact: Jaya Myler, Earth Hour Global, Ph: +61 (0) 422 202 881 E: jaya@earthhour.org
To contact the New Zealand Earth Hour community groups, or for WWF-New Zealand spokespeople, please contact Jenny Riches, WWF-New Zealand Communications & Marketing Manager M: 0274477158 or 04 4714288 or jriches@wwf.org.nz
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