EVERY last Saturday of the month of March, from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., millions of people across the world show their caring and commitment to planet Earth by turning off non-essential electric lights.
The practice was started by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and became an accepted worldwide movement, even as more and more countries and peoples have become aware of climate change issues and how individuals may participate in mitigating the forthcoming climate crisis.
In the Philippines, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. called on the entire Filipino nation to join the observance of Earth Hour to mitigate the devastating effects of climate change. He said Malacañang will observe the event by switching off non-essential lights during Earth Hour.
In a video message, the President noted that the Philippines is battered by an average of 20 typhoons yearly, “making it one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change.”
“As the earth’s temperature gets warmer, with the world’s carbon footprint reaching a new all-time high of 36.8 gigaton in 2022, the world braces for the irreversible impact of climate change. It only takes 60 minutes to do good for our future, 60 minutes to take notice and commit to saving Mother Nature to be united and take action because together nothing is impossible,” the Chief Executive said.
‘But in the ultimate analysis, the rich countries and advanced economies are the movers whose actions on climate change will make a difference, not the poor third world nations.’
Allowing “Mother Nature 60 minutes to breathe” has become a popular slogan among environmentalists, and the concept has elicited wide support from individuals in many countries.
President Marcos said the observance of Earth Hour will also help the government enforce its action plans that will benefit the planet. He urged Filipinos to stop or slow down and dedicate a moment to help the Earth breathe and heal anew. Further, he convinced the citizens to become part of the solution and embark on advocacies, programs and initiatives that will help us protect and preserve the Earth.
The Earth Hour, at best, can only ramp up individual consciousness and support for the concepts of energy conservation, global warming mitigation, reducing carbon footprints and the like. But in the ultimate analysis, the rich countries and advanced economies are the movers whose actions on climate change will make a difference, not the poor third world nations. Such is the position of former President Rodrigo Duterte, which still holds true today.
At the conclusion of the Third Technical Expert Dialogue (TED3) on Climate Finance of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) last year, the Philippines called for equity and justice in the fight against climate change, following the stand of Duterte which Marcos most likely — and correctly — adopted.
The Philippines touted that nations around the world should seize the “opportunity to advance inclusive climate finance” driven by a process that ensures “balanced geographical participation, particularly of developing states in the Asia-Pacific region.”
This is what our official position should be, for the more advanced economies which contributed more to the degradation of the environment should have a bigger role in the effort to clean and restore it.