Earth hour is the highlight of a major campaign to encourage businesses, communities and individuals to take the simple steps needed to cut down their electricity use for good. 

“It provides an opportunity for anyone and everyone to join us," says Elizabeth Potter, the director of Earth Hour Sydney.

"After people join, hopefully they will see just how easy an hour is and it might encourage people to do the same every day for just a few minutes. If that means not leaving your phone charger on, or turning it off instead of leaving it on standby that can really make a difference.”

Starting off as a Sydney based event as a joint initiative between WWF Australia, Fairfax Media and Leo Burnett, Earth Hour began as an effort to take a stand against global warming. Many cities all around the globe were so inspired by both the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House turning their lights off that it was decided that Earth Hour could be co-ordinated all over the world.

“It is about simple changes that will collectively make a difference – from businesses turning off their lights when their offices are empty, to households turning off appliances and with other cities over the world participating this year, these collective changes will make a difference” says Kath Eggleston from WWF.

Last year, Sydney made such a powerful statement, with over 2.2 million Sydney residents and over 2,100 businesses switching off their lights. Earth Hour aimed to reduce carbon emissions by 5% and in just one hour, and according to Energy Australia, there was a 10.2% energy reduction across the city. The Sydney Morning Herald equated this with “taking 48, 613 cars off the road for one hour.”

With so many cities taking part this year and recognising the effect it can have on the environment, Earth Hour is seen as an important yet simple event to help our future. Potter said it wasn’t hard at all to get other cities to join.

“We created a roadmap, through WWF worldwide and showed exactly how easy it can be to contribute to Earth Hour and to our earth as well. I think because WWF is so respected world wide, there was no problem – cities jumped at the opportunity to participate,” she says.

This year cities from Chicago to Dublin to Manila will be participating in the event for the first time. Chicago’s Lord Mayor Richard Daley said of the event: "Global warming has become a serious threat to our world and it's important for us to be part of the solution by making changes in our lives and our communities to reduce our carbon footprint. It's my goal to make Chicago the most environmentally-friendly city in the world and I am pleased and honoured to join mayors and leaders worldwide in support of Earth Hour 2008. I encourage everyone to take part in this important initiative."

This year, Sydney's landmarks aren't going to be the main focus of the event - instead, all 24 cities participating will turn off the lights of at least one landmark, with Melbourne choosing the Melbourne Arts Centre to dim. Each of the cities is hoping to beat Sydney’s 2.2 million participants from last year.

“This year, we’re hoping for the same sort of numbers. 10.2% blew us away, so we’re hoping that at least 2 million people in Sydney join us again – that is half of our population! So if you do the numbers, we’re hoping to times that by 24 and that’s what our target is. But of course, the more the merrier,” says Elizabeth Potter.