Mumbai: Actor Arjun Kapoor has joined hands with WWF-India to pledge his support to the Earth Hour 2014 – WWF’s global campaign to raise awareness and inspire individual action on climate change. This was announced at a press conference held at the Grand Hyatt Mumbai, the hospitality partner for Mumbai. Earth Hour 2014, India is also being supported by the Discovery Networks Asia Pacific, the national campaign partner for the campaign. Arjun Kapoor spoke about his association with the cause and invited citizens of the city to come forward and show their support for the campaign. Earth Hour is the largest environmental campaign in history and enables individuals, organizations, governments and groups to show support for policies and practice that balance development and environmental concerns.
The message of Earth Hour 2014 is to make the switch to renewable energy. Six years in the running, the Earth Hour 2014 campaign calls for:
• Individuals to adopt household products powered by renewable energy;
• Organizations to adopt renewable energy solutions to run their business operations and production processes;
• Governments to promote policies favourable to the production and uptake of renewable energy
The speed and scale of climate change, fuelled by ever increasing consumption of the Earth’s resources, is impacting the whole world. Unless we make efforts to transform our energy production systems to renewables, as far as possible, we will enter into a trajectory of climate instability and energy insecurity that will affect each one of us. Every individual has the power to make this transition possible by taking small, yet significant steps.
Emphasizing his support for Earth Hour, Arjun, addressing the media at Mumbai said, “I am honoured to be part of such a pertinent cause as Earth Hour – a campaign against climate change that has the support of millions of people globally. My association with Earth Hour will bring me in close contact with one of the country’s foremost conservation organizations that has been diligently fighting against the adverse impact of climate change.”
Commenting on Discovery Network’s association with Earth Hour 2014, Rahul Johri, Senior Vice President and General Manager – South Asia, & Head of Revenue – Southeast Asia and Pan Regional Advertising Sales, Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific said, “Discovery Channel’s partnership for Earth Hour underscores our commitment to give back to the planet that inspires our on-air stories. We believe our programming and on-ground efforts will help raise awareness about the importance of energy conservation and inspire individual action to combat environmental changes.”
David Mansfield, Area Director/General Manager, Grand Hyatt Mumbai states, “It is our pleasure to be associated with one of the largest organization’s – WWF India; synonymous with conservation of natural and wildlife resources through sustained efforts and practices, with regard to its Earth Hour initiatives. At Grand Hyatt Mumbai, we recognize the impact that our hotel creates on the neighbourhood and surroundings and work towards a greener future for our communities. The Grand Hyatt Mumbai community will be celebrating Earth Hour by encouraging our community to turn off non-essential lights for one hour to raise awareness about the pressing concerns that we face today in regard to climatic changes around the world. He also added that Grand Hyatt hotel is in the process of upgrading all its inefficient lighting and other electrical devices to new LED lighting and other power saving devices to save on power.
Speaking about the campaign, Mr. Ravi Singh, Secretary General & CEO, WWF-India said, “Earth Hour is a movement that unifies people nationwide to express their concern over the global crisis of climate change. Participatory in nature, the campaign’s clear message encourages individuals, businesses and governments to adopt sustainable practices in order to conserve the finite resources of our beautiful planet. The shift to renewable energy has received overwhelming responses, especially among schoolchildren. This year too, Earth Hour hopes to leave an indelible impression on people’s minds about the environment.”
Source: Lokesh Shastri