Ahead of WWF’s annual Earth Hour on 29 March 2014, South Ayrshire Council is celebrating after once again being named as WWF’s Earth Hour Local Authority Champion for 2013. This is the first time a local authority has won the award two years in a row.
[Pictured with the WWF panda and the 2013 national Award are (left) Councillor John McDowall, Portfolio Holder for Sustainability, and Callum Robertson, Environment and Climate Change Officer, South Ayrshire Council.]
WWF’s Earth Hour is a global event and last year saw hundreds of millions of people around the world take part to raise awareness of climate change.
Councillor John McDowall accepted the award after the Council was recognised for doing the most of all 32 local authorities in Scotland to support Earth Hour in 2013. The Council’s efforts included switching off feature lighting on 14 of the areas most iconic landmarks, a ghost walk around Ayr and golfing in the dark at Troon. Employees, partners, community groups and local businesses across South Ayrshire to sign up and switch off.
This year’s Earth Hour will take place at 8.30pm on 29 March 2014, and is a powerful way to highlight that climate change is one of the most serious threats to our planet.
After accepting the award Councillor McDowall said: “I would like to thank everyone who took part in Earth Hour and showed that our local authority and the people of South Ayrshire recognise the danger climate change poses to our planet.
“People celebrated Earth Hour in many different ways including switching off lights, holding Earth Hour parties, organising or attending events and generally celebrating the night.
“This year, we’d like to see more people than ever before in South Ayrshire make their own champion effort to switch lights off for an hour between 8.30pm and 9.30pm on 29 March 2014.
“We will be supporting the campaign and have already been awarded a ‘Super Local Authority’ badge for our proposed plan involving switching off many of our landmark buildings feature lights, a night cycle, ghost walk and more golfing in the dark. We encourage people from across South Ayrshire to take part, get involved, and make the darkest hour, South Ayrshire’s brightest.”
Lang Banks, Director of WWF Scotland, said: “I’m absolutely delighted that South Ayrshire Council has won our Earth Hour Local Authority Champion title for the second year in a row.
“This award clearly demonstrates the massive commitment of the Council and its residents to protecting our brilliant planet. We look forward to working with our newly crowned Champions for Earth Hour 2014 in March and encourage everyone to add their voice to the millions taking part across the globe at our website www.wwfscotland.org.uk/earthhour.”
South Ayrshire Council is a Founder Member of the Elite Ayrshire Business Circle.
