NHS Borders celebrates Earth Hour – 19 March 2016 8.30pm

Borderers are being encouraged to celebrate WWF’s Earth Hour by switching off their lights for one hour to show they care about the planet.

Earth Hour takes place at 8.30pm on Saturday 19 March and is designed to make an impact through an hour of energy saving and to help put a spotlight on the issues facing the planet.

NHS Borders is supporting Earth Hour in conjunction with Scottish Borders Council by encouraging members of the public to sign up at wwf.org.uk/earthhour.

As a symbolic gesture, NHS Borders is also encouraging staff to switch off lights in their workplaces between 11am -12noon on Friday 18 March - where it is safe to do so.

Gary Arkley, Head of Estates and Facilities for NHS Borders said: “We are proud to support WWF’s Earth Hour once again and are excited to be involved with such an inspiring event.

“By asking our staff to switch lights off for an hour this week will help to remind everyone that they can make their own difference to help protect our planet.”

Over the last decade, Earth Hour’s display of darkness has become a global phenomenon, with hundreds of millions of individuals coming together each year.

In 2015, a record-breaking 172 countries and some of world’s most famous buildings including Big Ben, Hong Kong’s skyline and the Sydney Harbour Bridge joined the global celebration. In the UK alone, over 10 million people took part, along with over 4,800 schools, 200 landmarks and thousands of businesses and organisations.