BY GLENDA TAYONA, IME SORNITO
ILOILO – It’s that time of year again to remind the public about the need to save the Earth by, for one, saving electricity.
With the theme “Biggest Hour for Earth”, March 25 is the observance of Earth Hour 2023 worldwide.
The Iloilo city government, through the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO), is joining the celebration by conducting cleanup and tree/mangrove planting activities during the day in partnership with different stakeholders.
From 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., public plazas in the city, street lights near the plazas, and other city government facilities will observe a one-hour shutdown of lights.
According to Engr. Neil Ravena, CENRO head, as in previous years except during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, they will document the activity, check on the electric meters of the government facilities, and report on how many kilowatts were saved.
“Our objective is to increase our carbon sequestration every year,” said Ravena.
Carbon sequestration is the process of capturing and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide. It is one method of reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to reduce global climate change.
While the city government is joining the advocacy, Ravena said they could only encourage private establishments and households to join the activity by switching off non-essential lights and devices for an hour.
For the Iloilo provincial government, there will be a short program beginning at 7:30 p.m., and a symbolic lights-off countdown will be headed by Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr. at the provincial capitol lobby.
Mitzi Peñaflorida, senior environmental management specialist of the Provincial Government Environment and Natural Resources Office (PGENRO), said the program is called “Earth Hour, Ligum-Dulom.”
Peñaflorida said this is the first time the provincial government initiated the observance of Earth Hour.
In the previous years, they only joined the Earth Hour observance of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the malls.
“It is one way nga maka-reflect kita for one hour to save the planet from pollution and our destructive actions. Through this, we can spread awareness and encourage people to act by switching off unessential lights at the household level. Ma-amat-amat naton ipa-intiende to everyone how to save power and other resources, that if everyone will do their share it will have an impact to beat the environmental crisis,” said Peñaflorida.
She believes once everyone starts supporting Earth Hour, it will be continuous, and eventually, everyone will see good results.
“We encourage individuals, communities, businesses, and households to turn off their lights to show support for the fight against climate change and commitment towards a better planet,” added Peñaflorida.
Aside from the provincial capitol, some towns in the province will also hold short programs and lights-off ceremonies.
Worldwide, the Philippines is one of the more than 150 countries that will participate in the 2023 Earth Hour movement, which is being led by the World Wide Fund for Nature.
It will observe this year’s Earth Hour mainly at the Quezon City Memorial Circle today.
Relative to this, the Department of Interior and Local Government issued a memorandum circular enjoining all local government units (LGUs) through their respective local chief executives to support Earth Hour 2023.
They are specifically enjoined to do activities such as:
* encouraging all local officials, personnel and constituents to observe and be part of Earth Hour 2023 in their homes;
* mobilizing the private sector within your jurisdiction to participate in Earth Hour by switching off their signage lights or some of their lights in their facilities, as their operations or businesses will allow;
* documentation of your own Earth Hour events and initiatives and sending to WWF-Philippines (earthhourwwf.org.ph);
* posting and/or sharing of Earth Hour communication materials (including, but not limited to, event posters, virtual roundtable live streams, virtual marathon publicity materials, press releases, etc.) in the agency’s external communication assets and using the official hashtag #EarthHour; and
* participants for the on-the-ground event./PN
