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MANILA — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Saturday invited the public to take part in this year’s Earth Hour, an hour-long voluntary shutting of lights around the world to raise awareness on climate change.
“Let’s switch off and give Mother Nature 60 minutes to breathe,” Marcos said in a video posted on his YouTube page.
“It only takes 60 minutes to do good for our future, 60 minutes to take notice and commit to saving the nature and to be united to take action because together nothing is impossible,” he said.
The President underscored that the “Philippines is hit with an average of 20 typhoons, making it one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change.”
“As the earth’s temperature gets warmers with the world’s carbon foot print reaching a new all-time high of 36.8 gigaton in 2022, the world braces for the irreversible impact of climate change,” he said.
In a separate video posted on the Department of Energy’s Facebook page, Marcos Jr. said that “Filipinos unite with the rest of the world in standing up for Mother Earth.”
“This yearly tradition invites us all to learn more about the world’s biggest environmental challenge-that of climate change. It will help us enforce our action plans and it will benefit our planet,” he said.
“So at this hour, let us stop, slow down, and dedicate the moment to help the earth breath and heal anew,” he said.
The President said he hopes that “this shared activity [would] remind everyone that environmental preservation is an intergenerational responsibility and that it should become our individual and collective priority in the pursuit of progress and prosperity.”
“Let us become part of the solution and embark on advocacies, programs, and initiatives that will help us protect and preserve the earth —our only home,” he said.
“I wish you all an engaging and meaningful Earth Hour,” he added.
Earth Hour 2023 in the Philippines is scheduled on March 25 from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Marcos Jr. has repeatedly said in various local and international speeches and dialogues that climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts would be among his administration’s priorities in his 6 years in office.
“I assure you that our environment and our country’s resiliency and adaptation to the new normals of climate change are on top of the national agenda,” Marcos said in a Department of the Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) forum in Manila last year.
The President has also been pushing to invite more renewable energy investors to the Philippines during his overseas trips.