ENVIRONMENT Secretary Roy Cimatu on Thursday called on the public to go beyond Earth Hour and make energy conservation a habit.
He said there are other ways to address climate change than just to put out lights during Earth Hour.
He urged millions of Filipinos participating in this year’s Earth Hour to take the next step and live an environment-friendly lifestyle that goes beyond the hour.
“We must go beyond merely switching off lights for an hour if we really want to make a greater impact in fighting climate change,” he said.
“Let us regard every hour of every day as an opportunity to do more, so that nature may fully shine,” he added.
Earth Hour 2018 that carries the theme “Let nature shine” will be observed tomorrow (March 24) from 8:30 p.m. until 9:30 p.m.
“What will matter more in global efforts to tame climate change are the things we do between the annual celebrations of Earth Hour—they should, cumulatively, provide the cause for the celebrations,” Cimatu noted.
He said it is high time people go beyond the given hour and make it a habit of using less energy and adopting other eco-friendly measures to mitigate the effects of climate change.
“The challenge for us is to do more beyond Earth Hour, and on a continuing basis,” he said.
There are many other ways to mitigate the impact of climate change beyond putting out unnecessary lights, the DENR chief said.
“Among these are car pooling; cutting back on the consumption of goods that take large amounts of carbon emissions to produce, package, transport and market; switching to energy-efficient appliances and devices; shifting to renewable energy, and raising more forests to serve as carbon sinks,” he said.
He directed all regional offices and bureaus of the DENR to conduct activities in support of the one-hour switch off event.
Despite Earth Hour has been the “most vivid showcase of our common cause” since 2008, he said “it is just one of the many ways by which we manifest our environmental citizenship.”
“Surely no less important are the pro-environment actions that we take between the annual Earth Hours—the 8,759 other hours of an ordinary year,” he said.