14 DAY TRIAL // This past March 29 marked Earth Hour 2014, and the World Wildlife Fund, i.e. the organization behind this event, is pleased to announce that a record number of people took part in the celebration.
On its website, the World Wildlife Fund says that it is still busy counting the people that celebrated Earth Hour 2014, but that, according to information at hand, the event encompassed millions of people in at least 162 different countries.
Thus, the organization says that Earth Hour activities have until now been confirmed in well over 7,000 cities. This just goes to show that the celebration is getting increasingly popular each year.
“Earth Hour set new records for participation across the globe in 2014, proving that the symbolic hour continues to gain strength and momentum in its eighth year,” the World Wildlife Fund writes. “Details continue to come in from events that spanned every continent, but it is already clear that millions of people were touched by this unifying movement,” it goes on to add.
As previously reported, this year's Earth Hour went hand in hand with the launch of a crowdfunding and crowdsourcing platform dubbed Earth Hour Blue. This platform is intended to make it possible for people to do more for the planet by getting behind a green-oriented campaign of their choice.
The World Wildlife Fund debuted this crowdfunding and crowdsourcing platform sometime before Earth Hour 2014, and is pleased to announce that the initiative has proven most successful. The organization details that, thanks to Earth Hour Blue, Singapore now has enough funds to start new anti-wildlife crime campaigns in Southeast Asia.
Besides, greenheads have until now pledged their support for World Wildlife Fund projects in many countries around the world. According to the organization, some of these countries are Australia, Indonesia, Singapore, China, Nepal, India, Russia, Uganda, South Africa, Madagascar, Canada and Colombia.
“It is always extraordinary to see cities and landmarks involved in Earth Hour, but in 2014 it's the stories and activities happening beyond the hour that show this event has evolved into a movement driven by the power of the crowd,” Andy Ridley, CEO and co-founder of Earth Hour, said in a statement.
Furthermore, “Earth Hour is more than just this hour. Uniting behind a common purpose demonstrates that we can make a meaningful difference. For us, Earth Hour is an hour of inspiration, but beyond that, when you see the hour happening all over the world, you feel that a collective effort is collective power. You can make a big change, you can make a big difference.”
What's interesting is that, according to the World Wildlife Fund, Earth Hour 2014 meant different things in various regions across the globe. Thus, in Australia, the event served to raise awareness of the need to protect the Great Barrier Reef. In China, on the other hand, the celebration served as a reminder of the need to curb air pollution, and, in Tahiti and Cook Islands, the emphasis was on how rising sea levels would affect these regions.