WWF started Earth Hour in 2007 to unite the world and make a stand against climate change. Today, Earth Hour is the world’s largest environmental movement for the planet that involves 178 countries and territories worldwide. Earth Hour is more than an hour-long event. Its purpose is to empower an interconnected global community to achieve tangible environmental outcomes for our living planet.
This year Userfarm, a global community of film makers, brings climate action into focus as Earth Hour 2017’s video crowdsourcing campaign receives record entries.
Around 400 film-makers have taken part in the first video crowdsourcing campaign run by Userfarm for Earth Hour, the world’s largest grassroots movement for the environment, to mark the movement’s tenth anniversary and inspire people around the world to take action on climate change.
As the world’s first and biggest global video platform, Userfarm decided to support Earth Hour as the people-powered movement sought to celebrate the potential of people to be the most eloquent story-tellers and share ‘millions of reasons to take action’ on the planet’s biggest environmental challenge yet.
With the planet at a climate crossroads, Earth Hour was keen to harness the creativity and compassion of Userfarm’s 120,000-strong member community to shine a light on climate action and inspire more people to be a part of the efforts we need to change climate change.
From the vast winter landscape of Siberia to futuristic nightmares, heartfelt messages and scintillating animation, Userfarm members created a typically eclectic range of films for social media, none longer than 90 seconds, to encourage viewers to not only switch off the lights for Earth Hour’s global lights out event but also make the switch from passive bystanders to agents of change.
Jeffrey Lee, Director of Userfarm said: “Userfarm filmmakers worldwide welcome the opportunity to work for good causes. This project, with its challenging timeline, brought an astonishing response from talented creators all over the world. Userfarm and the crowd are proud to contribute to making Earth Hour’s 10th year of action the most effective yet. What are you doing on March 25th at 8:30 p.m.?”
Between 8.30 and 9.30 om local time on Saturday 25 March, millions of people across the globe will mark Earth Hour by switching off their lights and supporting or participating in events and projects on the ground to help protect the planet and #changeclimatechange. As they do, the videos created by Userfarm’smembers will provide a compelling, emotional reason to participate.
Sid Das, Director of Digital Engagement, Communications & Marketing, WWFInternational explains: “The videos created by Userfarm’s community show how personal climate action is to so many individuals around the world. As we get ready to celebrate Earth Hour’s tenth anniversary, these videos will give our supporters an added sense of purpose to join the movement and play the role we believe they can to make climate change history”.
Out of the 400 videos submitted, 34 films were approved and 8 have been pre-selected to be shared on Earth Hour’s social channels in the run-up to Earth Hour 2017. With a video being released every day since Friday 17 March to help drive awareness and action ahead of the event on Saturday 25 March, Earth Hour will reveal the top three videos in the week of 27 March.
