5, 4, 3, 2, 1…In a blink of time, the streets sank into darkness and the lights in buildings and shops were all replaced by candlelight. As the lights went off, people’s love for the earth kindled.
Neither a countdown to New Year nor a firework celebration, the scene is a snapshot of one of the numerous Earth Hour celebrations held around the world in 2014. People around the world celebrate the Earth Hour each year, and with the switching off of the non-essential lights, the hope for a green earth is brightly kindled.
As the problem of global warming becomes a public concern, people start to look for ways to ease the global warming. On the last Saturday in March each year, people gather around famous landmarks waiting for the moment when the lights are switched off – a symbol of saving energy and reducing carbon emissions.
The day of Earth Hour takes place in various forms. Take the year of 2014 as an example. In Dubai, people joined together and lighted the candles of hope. In Thailand, countless sky lanterns were released into the night sky. In Seoul, a dancing flash mob was arranged and the video clip has been shared widely through the internet. In Taiwan, people supported the event by joining the creative night run in Kaohsiung. On that day, all of the participants ran in the dark with fervent excitement. We can see that people in big cities around the world are more than willing to support the meaningful initiative.
For the fifth Earth Hour in Taiwan organized in cooperation with The Society of Wilderness (SOW), Oʼright will continue to invite celebrities from various fields to support the event. From 2011 to 2014, Oʼright had annually elicited about 4,600 hair salons and nearly 10,000 hairdressers in Taiwan to join the event and the activity had helped reduce the consumption of 300,000 units of electricity, equal to reducing 184,000 kg of carbon emissions.
This year Oʼright will invite more than 50 celebrities from the entertainment industry including Jolin Tsai, JJ Lin, S.H.E., Show Lo, Mickey Huang, Sonia Sui, Jam Hsiao and Matilda Tao. Big posters of Earth Hour celebrity supporters will be put on the wall in hair salons, department stores as well as MRT stations in Taipei. 2015 also marks the launch of the first Earth Hour TV commercial in Taiwan, a co-production by Oʼright and SOW broadcasted in March. So the people in Taiwan have been able to see and feel all the passionate support from celebrities.
With the participation of celebrities, Earth Hour has become a high-profile public event in Taiwan and more and more people are willing to join the action and switch off non-essential lights.
Earth Hour is more than an hour of energy saving. It creates a hope beyond the hour, and from this starting point, we can take action and carry out the ecofriendly concept in each moment of our daily life. This is what the logo of 60+ stands for. Do a good thing for the earth and each of us will become a changing force.
