'I will if you will': Earth Hour advocates save the planet on a dare

“I will if you will,” is the challenge the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and other organizers of Earth Hour 2012 posed to residents of the planet on Tuesday, Valentine's Day to jumpstart their preparations for the annual campaign meant to tame global warming and climate change.

 

The Earth Hour lead advocates urged daring individuals to make YouTube videos of their personal pledges to do simple things that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, conserve energy, and maximize use of Earth's resources such as “recycling, to switching to energy-efficient light bulbs, turning off your mobile charger, or signing up for paperless banking.”

 

“From 8:30pm to 9:30pm this coming 31 March, WWF-Philippines will again stage Earth Hour to inspire Filipinos to switch off their lights and dare their friends to save planet Earth. The ‘I Will If You Will’ digital platform is the result of an alliance among WWF, Leo Burnett, and YouTube - merging the world’s biggest social video platform with the world’s largest environmental event,” the Earth Hour organizer said.

 

A library of ‘I Will If You Will’ challenges is hosted on Earth Hour's YouTube platform. Those who commit were also encouraged to share their ‘dares’ through social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and via email.

 

On the WWF Philippines Facebook page, there are various templates of the personal dares which followers can like, share, tag friends and comment upon. Among the image templates are commitments to segregate trash, plant 100 trees this year, and stop using plastic bags.

Some netizens though opted to have some fun with the blank template and sort of committed to do some unusual stuff like "eat a 3lb gummyworm."  

Some 1,554 cities and towns in the country joined last year's one-hour lights switch-off campaign and made the Philippines the global leader in Earth Hour participation. The environment campaign has been running since its inception five years ago in 2007.

 

“We call on corporations, local governments, media networks and other organizations to stand with us for this year’s switch-off. When public and private sector forces unite - then we will be able to effect change on the scale required to change the world,” said Earth Hour Philippines National Director Atty. Gia Ibay. — TJD, GMA News