Provincial Environment Minister Sheikh Mohammad Afzal officially announced power load shedding-hit Sindh and its capital Karachi as the “Earth Hour province” and “Earth Hour city”, respectively, during the Worldwide Fund for Nature-Pakistan (WWF-P)’s official inauguration ceremony of the Earth Hour 2012 on Wednesday.
Earth Hour Ambassadors 2012 include Pakistan tennis prodigy, Aisamul Haq, Hockey Olympic star and record holder Sohail Abbas, model and entrepreneur Nadia Hussain, famous singer and actor Fawad Afzal Khan, renowned actor and anchor Faisal Qureshi, singer Shahzad Roy and legendary actress Bushra Ansari. These ambassadors officially endorsed Earth Hour 2012 and lit candles as a symbolic gesture of energy conservation.
The ambassadors asked the nation to participate in the Earth Hour and join them in switching off all the unnecessary light and electrical appliances on the eve of March 31 from 8:30pm to 9:30pm.
Speaking on the occasion, the environment minister said all unnecessary lights should be switched off to save energy and efficient use of available energy resources should be made. He maintained that Pakistan is adversely affected by climate change and global warming impacts, despite not being a major contributor to greenhouse gases. “We have already suffered due to 2010 floods and 2011 heavy rains, now collective action is needed to address the environmental issues,” he added.
Bushra Ansari said that even small effort for saving nature can bring a big change. She said that environmental laws are not implemented in true spirit and resultantly environmental degradation is increasing. She further said that internal as well as external pollution should be mitigated to save our earth.
Faisal Qureshi called for participation of all institutions including government, civil society members, media and academia in working for conservation. Nadia Hussain stressed on educating the masses on environmental issues. She added that she, in her capacity as mother, housewife and neighbour, promotes the cause of protecting nature. Aisam ul Haq, Shahzad Roy, Sohail Abbas and Fawad Khan also expressed their views.
Government officials, WWF-P representatives and principals of WWF -P’s Green Schools along with young ambassadors lit candles with the official ambassadors and other corporate partners.
Pakistan’s responsible corporate giants and financial institutions, including the Dawood Group, the PIA, the KESC, the Civil Aviation Authority, the Barclays Bank, the Unilever and the AKD also participated in the inauguration ceremony.
The Earth Hour is the world’s largest global climate change initiative led by WWF. Initiated in Sydney, Australia in 2007, it has grown to become a global movement that now involves every continent across the world. The Earth Hour invites people everywhere to switch off all unnecessary lights for one hour, as a symbolic act to show their commitment to saving the planet. Pakistan joined 121 members of the international community on 27 March for the Earth Hour 2010. The Earth Hour 2011 saw 5,200 cities and towns in 135 countries switch off their lights. The Earth Hour has swept into Pakistan in a big way, bringing with it a host of significant commitments of action on the environment nationwide. The symbolic action of turning lights out for an hour in an expression of concern for the environment is in the process of being officially observed in hundreds of venues and thousands of people across Pakistan. This year, WWF hopes to unite even more people to come together and take part in the Earth Hour 2012, through the one thing that truly unites us all; the planet.
Karachi now officially ‘Earth Hour city’… seriously
