Lights Out for Earth Hour 2011 at BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, London

Lights Out for Earth Hour 2011

BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, London
Saturday 26 March 2011

BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, London once again joined hundreds of millions of supporters in thousands of cities, towns and communities in a record 134 countries in observing Earth Hour 2011 at 8.30pm on Saturday 26 March 2011.

Buildings small and large around the world – including such iconic landmarks as the Eiffel Tower, the Bird’s Nest (Olympic Stadium) in Beijing, the Great Pyramids of Giza, the Sydney Opera House, the Empire State Building, and Brazil’s Christ the Redeemer statue – as well as local neighbours Wembley Stadium and the Tesco Hoover Building all switched off their non-essential lights for one hour at precisely 8.30pm local time.

The ‘Neasden Temple’ also joined other places of worship in London and throughout the world to support the WWF’s aim to mobilise one billion people across the world to switch off their lights to raise awareness about climate change and “join together in celebration and contemplation of the one thing we all have in common – our planet.”

The initiative forms a part of BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, UK’s continuing commitment to raising awareness about and making a positive impact upon the environment, having won first prize in the Brent in Bloom competition for the second successive year in 2010, celebrated World Environment Day 2009 with the launch of an environmental awareness drive and the Green Travel Plan, and also using Go Veg… Go Green… as the theme of its Diwali and Hindu New Year celebrations in 2008.

Earth Hour was also observed at BAPS mandirs in North America, including at Atlanta where the evening rituals were performed by candlelight, as well at Swaminarayan Akshardham in New Delhi.

About Earth Hour

Earth Hour started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia when 2.2 million homes and businesses turned their lights off for one hour to make their stand against climate change.
In 2008, the message had grown into a global sustainability movement, with 50 million people switching off their lights.
In March 2009, hundreds of millions of people took part in the third Earth Hour where over 4,000 cities in 88 countries officially switched off to pledge their support for the planet.
In 2010, the global call to action had reached over 125 countries, making Earth Hour 2010 the world’s largest global climate change initiative.
Earth Hour is organised by the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF), one of the world’s largest and most respected independent conservation organisations. Its mission is to stop the degradation of the Earth’s natural environment and build a future where people live in harmony with nature.