The World Wide Fund for Nature’s CEO in South Africa, Dr Morne du Plessis says governments and people around the world are increasingly facing the need to protect essential resources like water from polluting industries.
South Africans are encouraged to turn off their lights for one hour between 20:30 and 21:30 Saturday evening to mark Earth Hour.
This year’s theme is “Climate Change to save Earth.”
27 March marks observation of 2021 Earth Hour:
The symbolic gesture of turning off the lights is targeted at raising awareness about climate change and the effect it has on the planet. The world’s major economies, including China, the United States and Europe are rapidly moving away from fossil fuels toward renewable energy sources including wind and solar.
South Africa is also introducing more wind and solar power sources.
Du Plessis says South Africans should work to ensure that their local rivers are protected and cleaned.
Scientists warn that countries around the world must rapidly move away from fossil fuel based industries toward renewable energy, including solar, wind and battery storage. Some experts say climate change could soon pose an even greater challenge to humanity than the current COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr Du Plessis says the time for action against environmental destruction has arrived.
“We want to focus the attention of people on the broken relationship between people and nature. We are completely under-appreciating the value of nature; the food it gives us, the water and the clean air; and then there’s the beauty, the intrinsic value. I think the mindset that we’re trying to engender with people is to make sure that we always think about the consequences. So, we have to think about sustainable development, wise development and not transfer those costs onto future generations.”
Dr Morne du Plessis on the Earth Hour:
Participation in Earth hour
The City of Jo’burg has encouraged residents to take part Earth Hour by switching off the lights for that one hour.
Deputy Director of Communications in the office of the MMC for Environment and Infrastructure, Stanley Itshegetseng, says they want to create awareness on emissions affecting the environment.
