The science has never been clearer or more urgent: our planet is under threat. Plastic pollution, air and water pollution, climate change, deforestation and other harmful human activities are destroying our natural world. This is a direct threat to our future.

WWF

If you haven’t come across Earth Hour before it is organised by WWF to raise awareness to the impact of climate change. Earth Hour started in Australia in 2007 and has spread around the world. This year WWF reported Earth Hour activities in over 180 countries. Earth Hour sees people turning the lights off at nationally important landmarks, homes, schools and businesses to highlight the issues caused by climate change.

This year the key message from WWF is about reducing our consumption and changing the way we live.

I wanted Earth Hour to be the launch of my family’s efforts to live a more sustainable life and start rethinking how we live so I wanted my children to join in Earth Hour. Technically 8.30pm is well past their bedtime so we started our mini Earth Hour with the children at 7.30 just as it was getting dark here.

We stayed out in the garden as it got dark to listen to the birds, watch for the local bat population to start their aerial acrobatics and notice what we could see or hear as the daylight faded. This children got a little spooked being out in the dark but we stayed out long enough to see the first stars so that was a reasonable success.

Inside, we set up some shadow drawing activities with their wind up torch and some little zoo animals. Favourites were the elephant, tiger and zebra. Here are their efforts. I think they are rather cute.

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Bedtime stories by torch light finished off the evening.

The children were less keen on the dark that I thought they would be so the nightlights had to go on in order to get them both to sleep. I think I need to practice more activities in the dark so they are more confident. It highlighted to me how reliant we are on lights in our house.