Earth Hour began in Sydney in 2007 and has grown to become an internationally significant event. An initiative of WWF-Australia and Fairfax Media, Earth Hour calls on individuals, households and businesses in Sydney and around the globe to turn off their lights for one hour on Saturday, 28 March 2009 between 8:30 pm and 9:30 pm.

More than 50 million people in 370 towns and cities around the world switched off their lights for Earth Hour 2008.  In Sydney, 2387 businesses committed to Earth Hour and an estimated 2.5 million Sydney residents took part. The target this year is for a billion people in over 1000 cities to switch off the lights to raise awareness of climate change.

Earth Hour promotes the simple action of turning off non-essential lighting for one hour to demonstrate a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and to show that individuals can make a difference in the fight against climate change. 

The event is voluntary and relates to non-essential lighting – not lighting that impacts on public safety.  Earth Hour will therefore not involve street lights, train stations or other public areas.

The event has the full support of the NSW Government and I urge all NSW Government agencies to take part in Earth Hour 2009 and to put in place measures to ensure the lights are off – where it is safe and appropriate to do so.

Agencies can register for Earth Hour at www.earthhour.org/signup/default:en.

Nathan Rees
Premier

This Memoranda has not superseded any other Memoranda.