Earth Hour 2010 will be held at 8.30pm on Saturday 27 March. Twenty countries and over 250 cities are already signed up as part of the global countdown to lights out. In 2010, Earth Hour will focus on broader, ongoing sustainability in addition to carbon pollution and climate change. Organiser, the World Wide Fund for Nature said that switching off your lights is a great first step, but your real environmental impact is much bigger than your energy bill. Each person’s environmental footprint or impact is made up of things including the food you eat and how its grown and transported, the type of transport and housing you choose, and the types of goods you buy, how they’re manufactured, where they’re manufactured and transported from, and how they’re packaged.

The World Wide Fund for Nature has developed an interactive, online footprint calculator that allows people to quickly and easily work out the size of their environmental footprint, with hints and tips on how to reduce and improve it: www.earthhour.org.au