UCSI University students formed a human 60 as
a symbol of solidarity towards conservation
The Kuala Lumpur campus as the sun was setting
before the Earth Hour commenced
The crowd cheering on one of the bands which
played during last year's Earth Hour Concert
Some of the secondary school students which
attended last year's event
Local Malaysia band Disagree is set to play
at the Earth Hour Concert this year
Earth Hour was conceived by WWF, Australia in 2005 as
a campaign based on hope, not fear, to instil in everyone
personal responsibility for the future of the planet we
live on. Together with the advertising agency, Leo Burnett
Sydney, they began to look for new ways to bring climate
change into the mainstream. The project was then called
“The Big Flick”. Slowly, the name Earth Hour evolved to
encompass the shifting broadening focus from “lights out”
to sustainability.
WWF Australia, together with Leo Burnett Sydney, then began
their tireless campaign pitching the idea to the local media.
It soon received the support of Lord Mayor Clover Moore,
Sydney’s MP. Boosted by the timely-release of Al Gore’s
documentary entitled An Inconvenient Truth and several
other damning reports, the Campaign soon received international
attention.
Thus, the inaugural Earth Hour was held in Sydney, Australia,
from 7.30pm to 8.30pm, with the participation of 2.2 million
Sydneysiders and 2,100 businesses.
The Earth Hour then became a much-talked about global event,
aimed at raising awareness on the earth’s plight. In 2008,
371 cities and towns in more than 35 countries globally,
participated. A conservative estimate concludes at least
50 million people participated, although the number could
have been as high as 100 million people.
In the year 2009, Malaysia officially became an Earth Hour
partner with Leo Burnett Malaysia taking the lead in the
Campaign with renowned filmmaker, Yasmin Ahmad, as the project
manager. It was also the year UCSI University became an
official partner of the Campaign committed to bring about
heightened awareness for the conservation of our planet.
More than 400 students were involved in the official countdown
of UCSI University’s Earth Hour. They included students
from the nearby secondary schools who had found out about
the event through the University’s EduXplorer team when
it visited the schools earlier to enlighten them about conservation
and the global event.
That year, on 28 March, from 8.30pm to 9.30pm, hundreds
of millions of people in more than 4,000 cities and towns
across 88 countries the world over, switched off their lights
for one hour, thereby, kick-starting the world’s first global
vote and a visual mandate for action on climate change.
In the same year, WWF launched The People’s Orb,
a shimmering silver sphere encasing a 350 gigabyte hard
drive with video, images and documents representing the
hundred million people who voted Earth for action on climate
change. This was a tangible representation of the voice
of the world’s people.
This year, UCSI University plans to continue its commitment
to spread this awareness and has consequently lined up bigger
and better activities. It is hoped that this year’s Earth
Hour would inspire youths to change their habits and create
a better world for everyone. Acknowledging the role of music
as the world’s global language; the University is including
musical events in our Earth Hour Campaign. Thus, besides
the Malaysian band Disagree, other local musical bands will
also be playing at the Event. So, do sign up for the biggest
global event ever on 27th March 2010, for it’s
going to be showtime!
