What’s an hour? If you are waiting for the results of a test that might change your life, it can feel like an eternity. If you are trying to meet a deadline and the task is more complicated than you had foreseen, it’s but a moment. Both will last sixty minutes, 3,600 seconds, but our experience of them is relative.
The duration of Earth Hour may be sixty minutes, but it extends to 24 hours, which may be why this year’s theme is “The Biggest Hour for Earth.”
Earth Hour takes place on the last Saturday in March, which in 2025 is March 29, from 8:30–9:30 p.m., wherever you are. Earth Hour began in 2007 as an initiative of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), which describes it this way:
“Earth Hour is a moment of unity that brings the world together, shines a spotlight on nature loss and the climate crisis, and inspires millions more to act and advocate for urgent change. Each year, we work together to turn a single Earth Hour into thousands and millions of hours of action for our one shared home.”
The site earthhour.org has this to say:
“Can an Hour change the world? Earth Hour invites you to switch off and spend 60 minutes doing something—anything—positive for our planet. Just 60 minutes? Yes, just one hour. It may not seem like much, but the magic happens when you, and those like you in Asia and Africa, North and South America, Oceania and Europe—supporters in over 190 countries and territories—all give an hour for our one home, creating the Biggest Hour for Earth.”
There are many ways to participate in Earth Hour—the simplest being turning off the lights and electronics, lighting a candle, and taking an hour to relax, breathe, talk, socialize—anything, really.
Earth Hour helps raise awareness about what the World Council of Churches calls the climate emergency facing our world. Although there are climate change deniers, the truth is that most people accept and understand that our planet is under threat. We speak of climate change, a climate crisis, and climate justice. Poorer communities are the most vulnerable and the least equipped to deal with the problems associated with climate change. But all communities everywhere are affected by events like wildfires and droughts.
Most of us feel hopeless—we wonder what one person can do, and even if we did know what to do, we despair that it can make a difference. But in 2024, there were 1,567,230 hours given for the Earth—hours spent in activities “off the grid.”
The more people are aware of the crisis facing our planet, the more they are likely to embrace solutions, even difficult or costly ones. And while we may feel powerless, we can all turn off the lights for an hour—it’s a small but tangible way of expressing our concern for our Earth—our home. It’s our way of turning climate crisis into climate hope.
