Earth Hour (Part 1)

 Happy last week of March and happy (early) Easter!  This week, Mad and I decided to talk about Earth Hour.  I don’t remember what year I first heard about Earth Hour, but I remember my mom was the one who told me about it.  From a young age, I remember her teaching me how important it is to care for the environment and be conscious about how my actions can impact Mother Earth.  The first time we participated in Earth Hour, my brother, dad, and I didn’t have a say.  Mom demanded that we shut off all the lights in the house for one hour one day.  Easy enough.

That’s literally what the movement is - shutting off your lights for one hour on the last Saturday in March.  Earth Hour was “started by WWF and partners… in Sydney in 2007… [and] is now one of the world’s largest grassroots movements for the environment” (Our Mission).  Every year is crucial to increase awareness about the global climate crisis, but this year was no exception.  “In 2021, world leaders will come together during key global conferences and forums to set the environmental agenda for the next decade and beyond.”

Why is this important?  First, we are experiencing an exponential nature and biodiversity loss.  Second, global climate change contributed to COVID-19 and can/will play a role in future pandemics.

According to World Wildlife Fund (WWF), urbanization has been putting a lot of pressure on the natural world thus, we are experiencing habitat loss, overfishing, and climate change (Why are we losing nature?).  One of the biggest forces behind nature loss is food production.  You can combat habitat loss by making smarter food choices and eating more sustainably.  Click here to learn more.  

The loss of biodiversity is directly tied to the loss of nature because when you lose land, you lose species.  When you lose species, there’s less variety of life.  You can combat biodiversity loss by reducing the size of your carbon footprint.  Click here to find out how.

COVID-19 erupted in part of our unsustainable practices which increased our risk of exposure.  Click here to sign WWF’s petition demanding world leaders to protect nature and prevent future pandemics from happening by making smarter choices when it comes to food production.

Now, I know I included a lot of links to look at, but I really encourage you to check them out and brainstorm which lifestyle changes you can make to help conserve the world we live in.  Mad and I will be sharing which changes we’ve made in a future blog post.  And don’t forget to mark your calendar for next year’s Earth Hour - Saturday, March 26 at 8:30PM local time (wherever you may be)!

Lex out...