For sixty incredible minutes a year the Colosseum darkens its ruinous walls, stars surpass the Golden Gate Bridge and Sydney Harbour fades into an ocean horizon. Why? Because it’s Earth Hour. 

One of our favourite celebrations of the year, Earth Hour sees tens of thousands of people across the globe unite in turning off their lights for climate change - a cause we can wholeheartedly get behind here at Intrepid. After all, travel as we know it depends on preserving this beautiful planet. 

So join us on Saturday 28 March and switch off.

About Earth Hour’s 2015 Theme

Our friends at WWF have chosen a theme for Earth Hour 2015 that resonates with Australians from all walks of life: highlighting the impact of climate change on our Aussie food and farmers.

Australia is a nation of food lovers. Almost 4 million of us tune into reality food shows like Masterchef and My Kitchen Rules, and farmers are amongst the voices we most trust. Yet Australia’s agricultural industry is extremely vulnerable to the impacts of global warming.

How you can get involved

Top 10 Tips for an Earth Hour event

Invite your friends, family, neighbours or community to bring a plate of their favourite dish or favourite food memory: BBQ sausage sangers, Bubble-O-Bills, Chicken Parma, Women’s Weekly birthday cakes (remember them?!), Fairy Bread, Party Pies...you get the picture. You could even include a fancy dress angle, if you’re feeling adventurous.

Are there any budding musicians in your community? Partner with a local cafe and host an evening of acoustic music by candlelight. You can also feature the special 20-minute Earth Hour fun documentary on how food and farming is being affected by climate change.

Did you know, left unchecked, global warming will negatively affect beer production? Noooooooooo!

How about a “Save the Ales” party or pub quiz? Host this one at a local pub and we can supply some cheeky environmentally-themed questions. More frequent and severe droughts due to climate change will affect to grain-growing regions all over the world which affects the quality of the barley and hops needed to make beer - so drink up!

While the lights are out, head outside or visit a local observatory to enjoy the wonder of the darkened night sky. It’s a beautiful way to celebrate our planet.

Go for a short ride to see the lights out in your city or town followed by a few drinks by candlelight. Make sure you contact the businesses and restaurants along your cycle route beforehand to remind them to turn their lights off from 8.30 - 9.30 pm.

Encourage your friends and community to use fresh Aussie ingredients such as bananas or berries to make creative and tasty treats. Consider some delectable cupcakes with this message.

Host a screening of Earth Hour’s 2015 short documentary with messages from ambassadors like Bindi Irwin. Combine this with an environmentally themed movie marathon (think Fern Gully, Wall-E, Avatar or An Inconvenient Truth).

Do you love Italian food? All the key ingredients in one of our most loved dishes are affected by rising temperatures and increasing extreme weather; wheat for pasta, beef & tomatoes for the sauce and dairy used for parmesan cheese.

Host a candlelit “Save the Spag Bol” dinner and commit to tackle climate change for the sake of its future. You could also reach out to local Italian restaurants or Italian community groups to get them involved, too.

Wine is also being affected by climate change. Explore our internationally renowned wines by candlelight. Encourage friends and family to bring bottle from boutique producers around the country and support the winegrowers and Aussie grapes!

Pollinate Energy Partnership

It’s easy to take electricity for granted. Flick a switch and, hey, there it is. But for 292 million of India’s poor, life isn’t so simple. We’re partnering with Aussie enterprise Pollinate Energy to help provide clean, renewable energy to the off-the-grid slums of cities like Hyderabad and Bangalore. $10 from you is all it takes to help light up an Indian family. Want to know how to donate? Just click here.

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