{"id":1382,"date":"2016-03-16T04:51:38","date_gmt":"2016-03-16T04:51:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/?p=1382"},"modified":"2016-03-16T04:53:21","modified_gmt":"2016-03-16T04:53:21","slug":"sta-rosa-san-carlos-makati-finalists-earth-hour-city-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/sta-rosa-san-carlos-makati-finalists-earth-hour-city-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"Sta. Rosa, San Carlos, Makati finalists for Earth Hour City Challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"

To encourage the sustainable development of cities, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) announced three Philippine cities which made the cut as finalists of its Earth Hour City Challenge (EHCC) \u2013 San Carlos City in Negros Occidental, Santa Rosa City in Laguna and Makati City in the National Capital Region.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Earth<\/a><\/p>\n

One of these cities can become a national Earth Hour capital, which will have a chance to be hailed as the global Earth Hour capital. Past global winners include Vancouver in Canada, Cape Town in South Africa and Seoul in South Korea.<\/p>\n

Launched by the WWF global network in 2011, EHCC is a yearlong initiative to promote sustainable practices for cities to transition to a low-carbon future. Seven Philippine cities joined in August 2015 \u2013 Cagayan de Oro, Makati, Naga, Para\u00f1aque, San Carlos, Santa Rosa and Quezon City. A total of 124 cities from around the world joined the 2015 to 2016 challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe laud all seven Philippine cities for promoting energy efficiency, renewable energy, recycling, green transportation, plus innovation,\u201d explains Earth Hour Philippines director Atty. Gia Ibay. \u201cOur theme for 2016 is Bridging the Gap to 2020 and is about inspiring solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improving the way food, water and energy are produced and consumed. We believe that properly developed, cities can lead the way to a sustainable future.\u201d<\/p>\n

WWF will announce the winner of EHCC during the international EHCC awards ceremony in Quito, Ecuador by October 2016.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, preparations for Earth Hour are in full swing. Earth Hour uses the simple action of switching-off lights for 60 minutes to deliver a powerful message about the need for decisive climate change solutions.<\/p>\n

In the past decade, the movement has grown from a symbolic switch-off event in Sydney, Australia to the world\u2019s largest open-sourced environmental campaign mobilizing hundreds of millions of people in over 7000 cities and 172 countries.<\/p>\n

Earth Hour will be celebrated across the globe from 8:30 PM to 9:30 PM on Saturday night, March 19. Earth\u2019s most iconic landmarks are expected to join the massive event.<\/p>\n

Earth Hour Philippines\u2019 main event shall be held at the Quezon City Memorial Circle from 7:30 PM to 10:00 PM.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt shall feature stationary bamboo bicycles connected to energy-harvesting generators. Supporters can ride these to light up a map of the Philippines. In effect, we\u2019re showing how human power can light up the world,\u201d says Ibay.<\/p>\n

Renewable energy technologies as well as electric vehicles shall also be on display to showcase low-carbon solutions. The Philippines has been championing Earth Hour since 2008 and has topped participation records from 2009 to 2013 \u2013 earning it the title of Earth Hour Hero Country.<\/p>\n

A growing list of allies has pledged to support this year\u2019s efforts, led by government partners such as the Climate Change Commission (CCC), Commission on Higher Education (CHED), Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), Department of Budget and Management (DBM), Department of Education (DEPEd), Department of Energy (DOE), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Department of Finance (DOF), Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Department of Health (DOH), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Department of National Defense (DND), National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP), League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP), Local Government of Quezon City, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), National Youth Commission (NYC) and the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are known as the Earth Hour hero country because more Philippine towns and cities participate in the movement than in any other nation,\u201d concludes Ibay. \u201cWe hope to use EHCC as a platform to showcase urban solutions which other Philippine cities can emulate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earth Hour 2016 will be celebrated on Saturday, 19 March 2016 between 8:30 and 9:30 PM in the Philippines and across the globe. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Log on to www.earthhour.org and wwf.org.ph for more stories on Earth Hour and climate solutions.\u00a0Link to the Earth Hour City Challenge: http:\/\/wwf.org.ph\/what-we-do\/earth-hour-city-challenge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To encourage the sustainable development of cities, WWF announced three Philippine cities which made the cut as finalists of its Earth Hour City Challenge (EHCC) \u2013 San Carlos City in Negros Occidental, Santa Rosa City in Laguna and Makati City in the National Capital Region.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1383,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[819,818,820,517,516],"class_list":["post-1382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsmakers","tag-earth-hour","tag-earth-hour-2016","tag-sustainable-practices","tag-world-wide-fund-for-nature","tag-wwf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1382"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1382\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1386,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1382\/revisions\/1386"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}