Green Energy Republic

Earth Hour 2010

   
http://earthhour.wwf.org.uk/

Earth Hour 2010 is on its way, and with big ambitions. This year WWF have raised the stakes in an attempt to get 1 billion people switching off on March the 27th, 8.30pm. 

The global campaign to raise awareness of climate change is set to build on the successes of last year which saw hundreds of millions of people across 83 countries turn out their lights for an hour.

There is a great sign up competition to pitch counties against each other. At the moment East Lothian are winning, and our native Wiltshire is way down the list at 28. Not for long…

So here’s what you can do:

Sign up, Stupid
Rather than just taking part, let WWF know their campaign is working

Tell your mates
Email your friends and send them a link to sign up

Get Social

Facebook
Why don't you create a facebook event to let your friends know about the date.
Become a fan of the WWF Earth Hour UK facebook page and ask your friends to join too.

Twitter
Why not tweet to your followers? You could use the phrase "I've just signed up to WWF's #earthhour. Lights out on 27 March to show we care about climate change.

Flickr
Why not add your photos to our Flickr group? And then send the link to your friends! Not sure how? Find out here...

Do you have a website or blog?
You can use our Earth Hour web banners to help spread the word.

Fundraise with a pub quiz
http://assets.wwf.org.uk/downloads/be_bright_quiz_pack.pdf

Direct your own mini movie
Earth Hour are running a video competition to promote the event – submit an entry by 15th March and you can win £1,000.

And there’s a whole load of other resources here - http://earthhour.wwf.org.uk/get_involved/take_part/resources22/

This year, we would like to see people turning everything off, not just lights. Computers, TVs, even fridges won’t be effected by being off for an hour. In fact, Earth Hour this year should be used as an opportunity to explore an energy free world and get us thinking about our energy behaviour in general. How about having an earth hour every evening? How about a TV free Monday night? Is there even any good telly on Monday night?

We’ll be sending a reminder out to our 26,000 customers and we have all signed up ourselves.

We’re also offering 10% off all electricity monitors at the Good Energy Shop so you can see your bills go down as the lights go out.

Enjoy the dark.
 

Earth Hour - how to get ready

Visit www.earthhour.org

Earth Hour – lets spread the word bloggers

We know that most energy suppliers won’t be encouraging you to turn your  lights off, because that means less profit for them. But we’re not most energy suppliers. We want everyone in the UK that can (safety first!) to switch their lights off between 8.30pm and 9.30pm this Saturday night to support WWFs Earth Hour. 

If WWF succeeds in getting 1 billion people to switch off, that will be a sixth of the world’s population. This will be the most unified global statement you may ever have the opportunity to be a part of, and it’s really easy to do. Just follow these easy steps:

1. Make the pledge
2. Spread the word

Here are some online tools that can help:

• Join groups on facebook, twitter, flickr, myspace, and youtube , and message your friends telling them to do the same. On Friday, update your status to say “X is turning off the lights tomorrow night for Earth Hour”, so that all those people looking at facebook at work get to see.  
• Write an email to everyone at work. In fact email your whole address book telling them what you’ll be doing on Saturday night, and then mention it will be in the dark! Paste a link to the www.earthhour.org and tell them to take a look.
• Post comments and links on every single blog or online paper you visit telling them about Earth Hour. Not just environmental blogs, we need everyone doing this. 
• If you have a blog or website, add the light switch and post the films up. You can also download banners and widgets here. 
• If you are some sort of serial spammer for Viagra or dodgy loans, why not turn your skills to saving the environment? Make the most of your clever internet tools and email the world about Earth Hour. 

Lets get this message spread!

Good Energy team

Earth Hour update

Ban Ki-moon tells us how it is:

Visit Earth Hour here.

Support Earth Hour and win a £50 voucher to spend at the Good Energy Shop

Earth Hour is on its way (see our post below for more info!), and we’ve been thinking about what to do for the big event. We’ve had a couple of ideas, but we’d like to see what ingenious suggestions you can come up with too. So get your creative juices flowing and think about how to spend an Earth Hour in the dark.

Post your idea in the comments section below, and the best one will win a £50 voucher to spend at the Good Energy Shop.*

Make sure your ideas have the environment in mind though – here are a few we wouldn’t recommend...

• Open your fridge door and use that as a light instead.
• Turn your lights off then drive somewhere with the lights on.
• Start that DIY project you’ve been meaning to get around to.

Make sure you have a look at the posts on the Good Energy Shop blog too.

Good luck and get posting!

The Good Energy Shop Team

*Entries must be submitted via the Good Energy Shop (GES) blog or the Green Energy Republic blog (GER) between 20/03/09 and 29/03/09.  Entries will be moderated by the GES, and will not appear until they have approved them.  No responsibility will be accepted for corrupted, lost or late entries.  Open to UK residents only.  The competition will be judged by GES, whose decision is final.  The winner will be notified and emailed a £50 Good Energy Shop voucher by 10/04/09.  No alternative prize available. 

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Earth Hour – Saturday 28th March, 8.30pm

You might not expect your electricity supplier to be asking you to turn your lights off, but that’s exactly what we’re doing on Saturday 28th March.  That’s because, from 8.30 pm to 9.30 pm local time, the world will be plunged into darkness for this year’s Earth Hour.

It’s all happening on Saturday 28th March this year at 8.30pm, wherever you are in the world. It is an international WWF climate change movement that sweeps the globe, asking everyone wherever they are to switch off their lights for an hour, saving gigawatts of energy and raising environmental issues. This year, the campaign has turned into “the world’s first global election – between global warming and the earth.”

WWF are trying to get 1 billion people to vote earth by switching their lights off. Last year, 50 million people participated, so the 2009 campaign is a big push ahead of the UN climate summit in December. If 1 billion people vote by switching off, this is a powerful signal to world leaders that we care about the environment, and support change in policy.
As we discussed last week the science community have presented a document to the summit leaders on what we are up against. The next and vital step is for leaders to see public support, and this is probably the best opportunity for the global community to act in unison.

It’s going well so far - the 1,000 city target has already been broken, and famous monuments will be joining in the (anti?)spectacle – the Golden Gate bridge, the Sydney Opera House, the Eiffel tower.

Good Energy is excited to be part of something huge that will be a clearly visible sign of a global desire to do something concrete to tackle climate change, and we hope you’ll get involved too. Some may feel this doesn’t make a difference, but in our opinion, something that raises the profile of the issue and encourages a change in behaviour is a good thing. There are lots of things you can do in the dark which involve the whole family – host a murder mystery evening, set out on a torch-lit treasure hunt, or take the opportunity to observe what goes on in your garden by night.

The first and most important thing you can do is make your pledge here. Once you’ve done that there are a whole host of other ways you can encourage friends and family to do the same.

See this link for how you can help:

http://earthhour.wwf.org.uk/how_you_can_help/fundraising.cfm

Green Energy Republic

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