With the “Earth Hour” the environmental foundation WWF sets an example for more climate protection every year. Numerous cities in more than 100 countries worldwide took part in the 17th “Earth Hour” under the motto “Together for more climate protection”. According to the WWF, more than 550 cities in Germany had registered for the campaign, which started at 8:30 p.m. local time.
Image: (APA/AFP/TOBIAS SCHWARZ)
It’s also getting dark in Linz
The city of Linz also took part once more and darkened the Lentos, Ars Electronica Center, Old and New Town Halls – security-relevant areas must remain switched on – and the Nibelungen Bridge. In addition, the effect lighting of the Pöstlingberg Basilica was switched off.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who has been committed to climate protection for years, also called for participation. The event is a reminder that “everyone can do their part,” Guterres wrote on Twitter.
The city of Vienna also called for participation. Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler (Greens) appeared in a video on Twitter disguised as a house technician undercover in an “energy-saving mission” in the ministry.
Under the motto “renaturing instead of concreting”, WWF Austria also announced a public painting campaign in Vienna-Neubau at the Human Rights Square on Mariahilfer Strasse. “The destruction of nature is reaching dramatic proportions worldwide – our earth urgently needs a break,” said Joschka Brangs, spokesman for biodiversity at WWF Austria. In this context, the NGO pointed out that out of eight million species worldwide, up to one million are threatened with extinction. In Austria, the high level of soil consumption weighs particularly heavily on the last remaining natural areas.
It was also getting dark in Schönbrunn
“Landmarks such as Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin or Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro symbolically switch off the lights once more. Apart from that, this year we are calling on everyone around the world to get involved and raise awareness of the long-term protection of nature create”, Brangs wished that it would not only remain with the symbolic turning off of the lights.
Hours before the start of the campaign in Central Europe, the lights had long gone out elsewhere. In New Zealand, the Sky Tower observation and telecommunications tower and the Harbor Bridge in Auckland were in darkness, in Sydney, Australia, the Harbor Bridge and the Opera House. In Malaysia, the lights of Kuala Lumpur’s Petronas Towers – once the world’s tallest buildings – went out for an hour.
Image: (APA/AFP/WENDELL TEODORO)
Russia did not participate
Russia was not there this time, the lights on public buildings there stayed on. Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov justified this in advance by saying that the WWF, as the initiator, is now on the Russian list of “foreign agents”. “Foreign agents” are often accused of divisive activities in Russia. The country had previously taken part in the campaign since 2013 and, among other things, switched off the facade lighting at the Kremlin, Russia’s center of power.
The WWF launched the global climate and environmental protection campaign in Australia in 2007 – as a sign that humanity must take better care of the earth. In addition to cities and authorities, companies and private individuals can also take part in the campaign.
