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Earth Hour 2012

What is Earth Hour?

Earth Hour is a beautifully simple idea that's become a massive global phenomenon - successfully uniting an extraordinary number of people across the planet, year after year, in a small symbolic act with a huge environmental message.

Hundreds of millions take the time to switch off their lights for an hour on the last Saturday in March - fired up by the thought of doing something positive to help tackle climate change and protect the natural world from the impacts of our resource-hungry lives.

That's pretty impressive, even if we do say so ourselves.

What do we do?

We're working with several different public bodies, organisations, businesses, schools and other groups to make Earth Hour a real success in Scotland in 2012 .

Find out who's getting involved.

We also encourage people to go beyond the hour and to think about how they can made a difference in their everyday lives.

The way we live has impacts that we can’t always see or haven’t experienced directly. From extreme weather changes such as flooding or drought, to food shortages, the loss of species and deforestation.

So Earth Hour is not about saving an hour’s electricity, it’s much bigger than that. It’s about realising that the actions we take, from the energy we use, to the food we buy and water we drink, has an effect on the world. We all depend on our amazing planet and need to look after it – not just for an hour a year, but every day.

What you can do

Hold your own Earth Hour event - here are a few ideas to get you started

Plan a candlelit dinner party
Play scrabble by torch light
Go for an exciting night cycle ride
Hold a silent auction
Organise a pub quiz
Set up a torchlight walk
Design your own Earth Hour beverage

Whatever you decide to do make sure you let us know by adding your event to our interactive map.

Enter our competition to lead the UK switch off

We're on the search for a champion community to lead the UK switch off.

To put yourself in the running, tell us why you are the obvious choice to become WWF's Champion Community for 2012. As well as leading the UK switch off you’ll also receive a grant of £1000 from our offical partner MORETH>N to make your event even more brilliant! On top of that, we'll also have national winners (England, N. Ireland, Scotland and Wales) who will each recieve £300 for their event.

Simply let us know, in no more than 300 words, why your community should lead the switch off. We want to hear about the sustainable things your community does, or will do after Earth Hour. And we want to know how you plan to bring your community together for a night to remember for Earth Hour. You can even include an image and video to support your entry and bring it to life.

What can you do?

Take Part in Earth Hour 2012

Get involved by registering to take part

Pass it On

However you plan to spend the hour, make sure you’ve told as many people as possible. Because a healthy planet isn’t just good for polar bears or tropical tree frogs. It’s essential for us all.