By: Natalia Trita Agnika

Earth Hour will again be celebrated globally on Saturday (25/03). The Earth Hour 2017 movement is entering its 10th year of celebration in the world and 9th year in Indonesia. With the theme "Shine A Light on Climate Action - from Moment to Movement", all parties are invited to ignite real action to change lifestyles to reduce the ecological footprint for the sake of earth sustainability.

"The emphasis is on action because after 10 years, Earth Hour which was only a moment for one hour, became a movement (movement). Now what we encourage is that the public (individuals, groups, corporations) can do anything to save this earth," explained Dewi Satriani, Campaign & Mobilization Manager of WWF-Indonesia in the Earth Hour press conference which took place on Thursday (16/03) at Shangri-La Hotel Jakarta.

The Earth Hour movement was first initiated by WWF which invited many parties to get involved. Then the various parties are independent and do it themselves because Earth Hour belongs to everyone. This year, Earth Hour involves 178 countries, 7,000 cities, and more than 1 billion people in the world.

"We want to invite more parties to turn off the lights on Saturday (25/03) at 20:30-21:30 local time as a symbol of our concern for the environment and climate change. Inviting the whole community including businesses and governments to do the same on that date. There are many ways to support the Earth Hour movement, including by spreading the #SejutaAksi message through their respective social media channels," said Benja Mambai, PLT CEO of WWF-Indonesia.

The #SejutaAksi movement is a movement chosen by the Earth Hour Indonesia Community to celebrate Earth Hour this year. The movement #SejutaAksi invites one million individuals (or groups) to make and donate used T-shirts to be used as shopping bags (reusable shopping bags) in an effort to reduce the use of plastic bags. The action will last for one year until March 2018. The shopping bags will be donated to supermarkets and traditional markets to replace plastic bags.

The press conference also featured support from the business sector, namely Shangri-La Hotel Jakarta. Bintari Rarastiwi, CSR Manager of Shangri-La Hotel Jakarta explained that the support for Earth Hour this year is more special. "We will be doing it for two days, not just 60 minutes. On March 25, we will participate in an international program to minimize the use of lights for one hour and there is one restaurant that we specifically serve an Earth Hour menu with organic food choices," she said.< br />

On the night of the switch-off, Shangri-La Hotel Jakarta will also invite its guests to the garden area to light candles made from used cooking oil placed in coconut shells. "The next day, on Sunday (26/03), Shangri-La Hotel Jakarta will organize a Sunday Earth Market that provides organic local food products, such as fresh vegetables and fruits, almond milk, and black rice healthy drinks. There will also be presentations by local farmers about their products," added Bintari.

During the press conference, the Jakarta Provincial Government expressed its support for the Earth Hour movement. "For us, turning off the lights is a situational thing. What is more important than that is the next steps," said Oswar Mungkasa, Deputy Governor for Spatial Planning and Environment. Oswar further explained several things that have been done by the Jakarta Provincial Government in its green lifestyle efforts, including instructing all high-rise buildings in Jakarta with a height of more than eight floors to reduce 30% of their energy use, promoting urban farming, and encouraging people to use public transportation to reduce the use of private vehicles. "We hope that high-rise buildings in Jakarta will turn off their lights during switch-off Earth Hour," Oswar said.

This year's Earth Hour is a collaboration between Earth Hour Indonesia and Earth Hour Singapore through the Earth Hour Buddies program. On the evening of Saturday (25/03), individuals in Singapore will take part in a 5K run at SunDown Marathon, Singapore, for an action that will take place in Indonesia. Members of the public who wish to join Earth Hour Buddies can register their action through www.earthhourbuddies.com.

A number of public figures who act as Earth Hour Ambassadors also attended the Earth Hour press conference. They are Arifin Putra, Jessica Mila, Davina Veronica, Michelle Joan, and Sogi Indra Dhuaja. Their support is crucial in spreading the message of the #SejutaAksi movement to the public through social media. You can also help spread the movement through social media by signing up on www.changeclimatechange.org.