Marcos urges Filipinos: Switch off non-essential lights for 2023 Earth Hour

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. enjoins all Filipinos to switch off electric lights from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Saturday, as a sign of commitment to reduce carbon footprint and to combat the devastating effects of climate change to the environment.

Earth Hour is a world-wide event speaheaded by the World Wildlife since 2007, encouraging individuals to take action against global warming while reversing nature loss. It is now arguably the "world's largest environmental campaign."

"It only takes 60 minutes to do good for our future. 60 minutes to take notice and commit to saving mother nature to be united and take action," the president said in a video statement released today.

"Because together, nothing is impossible. Let's switch off and give mother nature 60 minutes to breathe," he added.

Hosting the country's Earth Hour celebration would be the Quezon City government at the Quezon City Memorial Circle tonight. 

The city will be joining over 7,000 cities from 193 countries that will commemorate the event in the hopes of raising awareness about the threats of climate change.

"Every year, the Philippines is hit with an average of 20 typhoons making it one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change," Marcos said.

"As the earth's temperature gets warmer, with the world's carbon footprint reaches a new all-time high of 36.8 gigaton in 2022, the world braces for the irreversible impact of climate change," he added.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources last Friday called on Filipinos to join as well, this while committing their regional and field offices, bureaus and attached agencies nationwide to switch off their lights for an hour.

The WWF said that switching off lights for 60 minutes once every year can actually help the environment by "reflecting on the work you’ve done so far to protect our planet and set intentions for the coming months." 

They also contend that it's a "collective pause" to determine where we are in the movement, "understanding how your actions add up, building bridges for others."