Earth Hour, WWF leads solar lamps gift of life project in Palawan

MANILA, March 19 — The global movement Earth Hour led by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is giving out safe and economical solar lamps to hundreds of families in Palawan. It is this year’s Gift of Life project of the organization.

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“Solar lamps rely on power of the sun, eliminating the need to buy fuel. We’re teaching communities to veer away from fossil fuel, the burning of which contributes to climate change,” said WWF Climate Change Unit and Earth Hour Philippines head, Atty. Gia Ibay.

After Beton in Palawan, the project will provide lamps for the Mangyan people and forest rangers protecting Iglit-Baco Mountain Range in Occidental Mindoro, the last holdout of the critically endangered Tamaraw, an endemic dwarf forest buffalo.

Climate change caused Arctic sea ice to shrink to its lowest winter extent since 1880. Philippine effects range from more powerful typhoons to massive floods.

Earth Hour is observed every last Saturday of March originally envisioned as an hour-long switch-off to show unity against climate change, it became one of the world’s largest crowd-funding and crowd-sourcing movements in 2014.

It funded dozens of projects including construction of fiberglass bancas in the Philippines. Since 2008, the country has been championing the switch-off event. (PNA)

(Panda image courtesy of Wikipedia/ user mwtoews)

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