Richardson, J. et al
As 7000 cities around the world prepare to go dark for sixty minutes tonight for Earth Hour, multiple world leaders have announced that due to the ongoing climate crisis, they will pledge to replace Earth Hour with a more elegiac Earth Moment of Silence by 2050.
The European Union was the first to lead the transition following discussions of new legislation in response to the climate emergency and released the following official statement to the public:
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the Earth and its loved ones in its twilight years, which is why we are pledging to reduce Earth Hour to a respectful moment of silence by 2050. The transition will involve a long-term strategy to ensure that this target is met urgently but responsibly.”
“We will set multiple targets, including an aggressive 2030 target of reducing Earth Hours to an Earth Half-Hour. It is vital that we recognize Earth’s sacrifices, and so we want to implement these measures as a celebration of life for the Earth while we still can.”
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) initially began the Earth Hour movement in 2007 in Sydney, Australia in the hopes of increasing Australian engagement with the issue of climate change. Since then, Earth Hour has become a global movement with 187 countries and 7000 cities now participating in the lights-out hour each year, but many argue that due to the extremes of climate change, the full hour is no longer necessary.
“We can see fine with the light from the extended bushfire season anyway,” said Bradley Chapman, an Australian resident leading a petition to urge other countries, including Australia to follow the EU in transitioning towards an Earth Moment of Silence.
Chapman’s petition calls for the formation of a specialized government task force to monitor the global transition towards an Earth Moment of Silence. The task force would report every 5 years to the United Nations to ensure “Earth Respect Targets” are met by 2050.
The United States has not committed to the new measures, and instead has pledged to perform an elaborate “in memoriam” ceremony featuring several tonnes of plastic confetti, a fleet of jets, and a menu centred around special Earth-shaped beef globes.
