Mumbai, Maharashtra -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/02/2010 -- On Earth Hour millions of people around the world come together to call for action on climate change by doing something quite simple—turning off their lights for one hour.

Earth Hour is a WWF initiative which sends across an inspiring message of hope and action for Climate Change. At 8.30pm on 27th March 2010, cities, towns and municipalities across the world will turn off their lights for one hour – Earth Hour – sending a powerful global message that it’s possible to take action on global warming.

Earth Hour began in Sydney, Australia, where more than 2.2 million households and turned off their lights for one hour. Just a year later, Earth Hour reached 370 cities and towns in more than 35 countries across 18 time zones, and the campaign shifted from a ‘Sydney Event’ to a ‘Global Sustainability Movement’. International landmarks, including the Golden Gate Bridge, Rome’s Coliseum, the Coke billboard in Times Square and Jumeirah Hotel in Dubai, switched off for one hour to show their commitment to the cause.

Earth Hour 2009
In 2009, India joined the Earth Hour movement. Over 5 million Indians and 56 Indian cities showed their support by switching off, saving approximately 1000 MW of power in that one hour and making the first ever Earth Hour in India a huge success!

Earth Hour also received unprecedented media coverage with over 100 stories that were filed the next morning. Aamir Khan, the nation's popular youth icon was the Brand Ambassador for Earth Hour 2009.Also several celebrities associated themselves with the campaign including cricketers Sachin Tendulkar and Anil Kumble.

From amongst those who switched off included

• Several key historic and landmark buildings like Qutub Minar, Red Fort, Humanyun’s Tomb and Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus.
• Symbols of modern India including hotels, cinema complexes and shopping malls
• Connaught Place in Delhi and Brigade Road in Bangalore offered a unique visual spectacle with just the essential lights turned on.
• 100 top public and private sector organizations participated. Reserve Bank of India, Infosys, Wipro, ICICI, Google, Indian Hotels, HSBC, Standard Chartered India, HP, ITCWelcomgroup, HUDCO, Taj group of hotels and PVR. to name a few
• Tremendous support from the Government of Delhi ( has adopted EH as a quarterly initiative)
• Hundreds of educational institutions including IITs, IIMs, MICA, Jamia Milia Islamia, JNU among several youth groups, community organizations and religious groups took ownership of the campaign to help make it a success from Cochin to Gangtok and Dehradun to Bubhneshwar.

Earth Hour 2010
Earth Hour 2010 continues to be a global call to action to every individual, every business and every community. A call to stand up, to show leadership and be responsible for our future.

In what WWF hopes will be the world’s largest mass participation event, Earth Hour 2010 will be the culmination of over one billion people around the globe, in more than 6000 cities, towns turning off lights for one hour on one night. Iconic buildings and landmarks across Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and The Americas will go dark.

In India, the goal is to make Earth Hour 2010 even bigger and better than last year. Besides Delhi & Mumbai , this year WWF is taking Earth Hour to Pune, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Bangaluru, Chennai and Kolkata, apart from several other cities where people will be encouraged to participate and turn-off the lights in their homes, offices and buildings from 8:30pm-9:30pm on Saturday, 27 March 2010. People’s participation will go a long way in showing to the world that India is united on its stand against global warming and is demanding immediate action.

Online users can take a pledge to support the campaign on the official Earth Hour India Site http://earthhour.in/

Support the cause on Facebook: http://www.causes.com/causes/241272

Follow Earth Hour India on Twitter: http://twitter.com/earthhourindia

Watch the official Earth Hour Videos on http://www.youtube.com/EarthHourIndia