Join the biggest hour on Earth! March 25, 2023
“Give an hour for Earth” and stand with millions across the globe supporting climate change by switching off the lights for an hour from 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm on the last Saturday of March.
Earth Hour, organized by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), is a global movement uniting people to take action on environmental issues and protect the planet; Earth Hour was famously started as a lights-out event in Sydney, Australia in 2007.
Why is it still important?
Earth Hour encourages people to reflect upon their actions and consider their contributions towards the conservation of Earth’s resources. It’s a time to have those conversations, generating ideas; about how everyone can contribute to the climate change movement.
How can you get involved?
As an industry, Hospitality can make an impact in 1 hour. A few things your hotel can do.
- Turn off non-essential lighting.
- Advise guests of the event.
- Encourage staff and their families to participate.
- Organize a climate change awareness event throughout the property for guests and staff.
- Host climate awareness training for the team.
- Attend or sponsor a wider community Earth Hour event!
Should we be going beyond the Hour?
Every hour counts and Earth Hour isn’t only about addressing our impact for an hour; we as an industry need to be going beyond that hour and actively trying to minimize our impact every day of the year. Let these 5 tips from the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance guide you.
- Reduce Energy and Carbon: Improving energy efficiency and understanding your carbon footprint is essential. Implementing changes in lighting, adding sensors, improving insulation, and the building envelope are all key. Understanding your footprint and using tools such as the Hotel Carbon Measurement Initiative tool (HCMI) from Sustainable Hospitality Alliance or the DTCM carbon calculation are both useful.
- Involve the Entire Eeam: Everyone in the company plays a role in improving sustainability.
- Working with Suppliers and Partners of the value chain to maximize environmental improvements, from more efficient appliances to on-site renewables and ensure energy efficiency is part of procurement considerations.
- Other Environmental Impacts: See your property wholistically. The complexity of hospitality operations means that there are environmental impacts in all aspects of the business. Every move we make has an impact.
- Become Net Positive – Just Starting out? The Planet Pathway enables hotels to take a strategic approach to improve their environmental impact by providing practical advice and simple steps.
If you are starting your sustainability journey, or you’re a seasoned professional, enjoy Earth Hour and participate in the Global Movement calling attention to Climate Change.
What are you going to do?
Share with us what you are doing (did) for Earth Hour and your thoughts against this global movement. We would love to hear from your point of view.
