The WWF Earth Hour
Turn off the light for an hour in a symbolic gesture of concern for our planet! On March 23rd, at 20:30, the WWF Global Earth Hour will begin to promote environmental protection, this year dedicated to rivers. Silesian University of Technology has joined the action.
WWF Earth Hour is an initiative that anyone can join. It involves the symbolic turning off of lights in homes, offices, public buildings. All this to encourage reflection on climate change and to raise awareness of the problem of excessive electricity consumption.
On Saturday, March 23, between 20:30 and 21:30 the lights will go out or be limited to the necessary minimum in the buildings of the Silesian University of Technology. The action was joined by:
- Library of the Silesian University of Technology
- IT Centre – the building of the Information Centre and the Academic Clinic
- Centre for New Technologies
- Project Management Centre CZP
- The Property Management Section in Katowice
- Faculty of Automatic Control Electronics and Computer Science
- Faculty of Chemistry
- Faculty of Electrical Engineering
- Faculty of Energy and Environmental Engineering
- Faculty of Applied Mathematics
“In this one hour, we can show our shared commitment to carbon emissions and environmental pollution. By extinguishing the light, we give symbolic support to the idea of fighting one of the most dangerous threats facing humanity today, the ecological crisis – says dr Eng. Joanna Ferdyn - Grygierek, prof. SUT, Director of the Centre for Climate and Environment Protection of the Silesian University of Technology, which coordinates the action at the University.
This year’s WWF Earth Hour is dedicated by the organizers to rivers, the vast majority of which in Poland, (as many as 99.5%) are in poor condition and do not meet the requirements of the Water Framework Directive. Due to excessive human interference in the ecosystem, the development of water stages, and above all the lack of proper supervision over the pollutants released into the water, rivers lose their natural ability to self-clean and regenerate. One of the biggest ecological disasters in Poland, namely the poisoning of the Oder River in the summer of 2022 may serve as an example. The authors of the EU report on the Oder calculate that the river died at almost 500 kilometres and 360 tons of dead fish were caught from it.
On the WWF website, you can sign a petition to the Prime Minister on changing river management system.
The Earth Hour was first held in Sydney in 2007, with 2.2 million people participating in it. The action quickly gained popularity all over the world. Three years later, the lights went out for an hour in more than 4.5 cities in 128 countries, including the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Buckingham Palace in London, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, and the Sydney Opera House.
