[The Hwankyung Ilbo] On March 28th at 8:30 PM, WWF will host an International nature preservation campaign called Earth Hour. Public landmarks such as Lotte tower, Seoul Arts Center, and more will turn off their lights. WWF Australia started this campaign intended to respond against climate change, along with other countries following this movement. For Korea, they joined this campaign in 2014.

However, for this year, it will take place online due to the Coronavirus. This year’s campaign will be live-streamed with several corners: discussion on sustainable diet and marine conservation by the 2018 Miss Korea, Soo Min Kim, and winner of Masterchef Korea, Gwang ho Choi; the famous calligrapher Seok Bong Han’s campaign; and more. It will be streamed starting from 7 PM at the Earth Hour home page.

The WWF Korea Secretary-General said that this campaign is meant to give time to think about the abundance of life that nature gave us for an hour. In such, the simultaneous dousing of lights in landmarks will symbolize the millions of people’s desires to face the climate crisis. He believes that the coexistence of nature and men could be seen in the spirit of Earth Hour. In addition, Greta Thunberg, a prominent teenage environmentalist, hopes to see unity in the heart during times like this as the pandemic has disconnected people from the society. Thunberg adds that it is important to put these intentions from the campaign into action.

More countries are participating in this campaign, along with famous public landmarks turning off their lights. In such, WWF chancellor Yoon Her Hong believes that this generation is the last generation to have the opportunity to restore nature, emphasizing that more people should participate and take interest in this campaign.

Chijung Park Reporter  chijungpark@hkbs.co.kr

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