Are You Ready for Earth Hour? Here’s How to Join the Fun

Image Credit: https://www.pexels.com/photo/clear-light-bulb-planter-on-gray-rock-1108572/

Saturday, March 30, people all around the world will shut off the lights in their homes, their businesses and their communities for one hour. In unison, the world will “go dark” at 8:30 pm (local time).

Why is this happening exactly? We’ll explore that and also offer up tips to join in on the environmentally-friendly fun.

What is Earth Hour?

Communities across the globe turn off their lights during Earth Hour to symbolize a world-wide commitment to bettering the planet.

Specifically, Earth Hour-supporters hope to encourage us to re-think our massive energy-consumption and how it affects the environment. Moreover, the event hopes to bring awareness to the ever-growing issue of climate change and how more sustainable practices can help prolong our time on the planet.

The act of coming together reminds us just how interconnected we all are. We are capable of joining forces for the greater good. The movement helps show that small steps can lead to BIG changes. At Purium, we see that every day. This belief inspired our Purium Gives program.

Then and Now

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) created Earth Hour back in 2007 as a way to bring awareness to electrical pollution, namely greenhouse gas emission due to energy generation. At this time, the Sydney, Australia area mainly participated.

However, the movement sparked more attention since its inception, expanding to around the world. 12 years strong now, millions participate every year, including corporations, universities and more.

This year’s American participants include major business titans, like MGM Resorts, Marriot International and more. Some American landmarks known for their glimmering, shining lights will go dark, including some of the most well known:

The Gateway Pylons at LAX, Los Angeles, CA
Ghiradelli Square, San Francisco, CA
Mandalay Bay and Delano, Las Vegas, NV
MGM Grand, Las Vegas, NV
Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Sign, Las Vegas, NV
Symphony Tower, Atlanta, GA
Wrigley Field, Chicago, IL
National Tropical Botanical Garden, Kauai, HI
NASDAQ Market Site in Times Square, New York, NY

What Can You Do?

So during that hour, let’s think about what we can do to help decrease our carbon footprint. We suggest evaluating your own practices and how you can improve your relationship to the earth.

Try these tips:

Reflect on your electricity-usage. Do you leave lights on in unattended rooms? Do you leave appliances on when you can turn them off?
Take a moment to star-gaze. Revel in the beauty of nature. Let it motivate it you to take initiative in your eco-friendly habits.
Take a flashlight and tour nearby landmarks during that hour. This is a good way to find organizations and businesses that follow like-minded conservancy efforts. Do you notice a business that did not participate? Don’t be afraid to recommend them to try for next year.
Up-cycle worn out objects in your house by candlelight.
If all else fails, don’t be afraid to simply get your 8 hours of sleep started early. On the next day, you will be fully refreshed and ready to make the world a better place.

Here are simple ways to conserve electricity every day, courtesy of Harvard University and Green Living :

Shut off your desktop computers when they are not in use (don’t just leave them on sleep).
Upgrade your light bulbs to LED.
Use power strips so that you can easily toggle electricity off for many appliances at a time.
Set your lamps on timers, if possible.
Install motion-detecting lights, if possible. This is an easy way to ensure lights are only on when necessary.

How Are We Doing?

Conservative efforts make us a little sentimental about our own eco-friendly journey. We’re on an ongoing mission to help decrease our own carbon footprint.

Here are some of the steps we have taken:

We’re transitioning some of our Purium-favorites into biodegradable, Terra Pouch packaging. Click here to learn more. The goal is to eventually transition ALL of our products to this option, but we need YOUR help to do that. Support by opting for Terra Pouches when purchasing or by putting them on Smart Order.
We transitioned out plastic scoops from all of our products and reorganized our powder-measurement system.
We discourage use of one-time-use plastic utensils in our corporate headquarters.
We encourage others to use reusable canisters for their Purium foods, like ours.

We’re excited to do more in the future, but please remember, good things take time. But when we work as a team, lots more is possible.