COMMUNITY EARTH HOUR IN PUAN, DAVAO CITY

The San Lorenzo Village of Puan, Davao City, in partnership with the CFC community, has celebrated EARTH HOUR with the whole world for the first time.   

The local community of Couples for Christ, along with the Youth for Christ, Kids for Christ and the rest of the neighbors, became Earth Hour Ambassadors as they turned off the lights in their homes for 60 minutes, from 8:30- 9:30pm.

The members of the Youth for Christ were assigned to make the announcement of the Earth Hour celebration to the whole village.  It seemed like a challenging task, setting up banners and telling the villagers about the upcoming activity.  Some didn’t seem interested, others didn’t understand the event, as it didn’t happen there before.

On the day of the ceremony, the village was so excited to participate in the Earth Hour that some had already turned off their lights as early as 7pm as they gathered to the house where the candle lighting ceremony will be held.  There were some unexpected villagers who arrived.

There were candles sold that people can buy and use for the candle lighting ceremony; the proceeds went to support the local ministry of Kids for Christ.   There was also a simple countdown that would officially start the ceremony. 

For one hour, the community enjoyed the candle light scenes, the Earth Hour Video through an LCD projector, and the entertainment of an acoustic band(Anyone who attended and knew how to perform could volunteer to play).  People also brought food that they could share to everyone. 

The event actually lasted for more than one hour.  Everyone was having fun, gathered in the dark.  It was the simple joy of each other’s company that kept people staying (Not to mention more electricity was saved). 

That night was a very special night as a lot of people had gathered to support this global environmental movement.  This night is a very strong symbolism of how even the smallest group of people can contribute in this action against climate change. 

Even a simple gathering like this could have a great impact, for the love of Mother Nature.  It definitely followed the three-fold mission of Earth Hour:

• To bring people together through a symbolic hour-long event,
• to galvanize people into taking action beyond the hour, and
• to create an interconnected global community sharing the mutual goal of creating a sustainable future for the planet.

Well, this happened two years ago, 31st of March, 2012.  I was strongly hoping the village would participate again.  

Find out more about how the rest of the world celebrated Earth Hour athttp://www.earthhour.org/earth-hour-around-world

You can create your own Earth Hour event too!!  How? Visit this link for more inspiration http://www.earthhour.org/create-your-own-earth-hour-event