Guest post by the Rocking the Daisies team.

At 8.30 pm on Saturday 28 March 2009, the lights on Table Mountain will go out, along with lights in almost 2,000 towns in over 80 countries around the world. The initiative is supported by a host of celebrities in South Africa, from Desmond Tutu to The Parlotones.

Earth Hour is intended to be a mass demonstration of public support for climate change and to send a strong message to the Climate Change Conference to be held in Copenhagen in December. The event started in Sydney in 2007 and has
since spread around the world.

“Switching off the lights during Earth Hour 2009 has the potential of sending an extremely strong signal to world leaders that we can no longer keep our heads in the sand as far as climate change is concerned,” said CEO of WWF South Africa, Dr Morné du Plessis. “The active participation of 1 billion people will be the single most powerful demonstration of global solidarity on any matter ever.”

What can I do?

Go along to www.earthhour.org.za to register your support – either as an individual or an organisation. Your name will be added to the petition being sent along to the conference in Copenhagen to call for action on greenhouse gas emissions. There are also a couple of nifty tools you can add to Facebook, your blog, or simply your email to show your support and to encourage others to join as well.

Check out the Earth Hour site for participating cities in South Africa.

And don’t forget to switch your lights off on Saturday 28 March at 8.30 pm, for one hour.

Rocking the Daisies, South Africa’s first carbon-neutral music festival, achieved carbon-neutral status for the first time and this year will do the same thanks to the use of environmentally friendly practices and products. The festival’s motto is: play hard, tread lightly.