A poster for the WWF's "Earth Hour" event that says "lanse 'We' lai," which sounds similar to "blue future" in Chinese. (Photo/Courtesy of the World Wildlife Fund)
To advocate sustainable living, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) announced on Tuesday it will be holding an "Earth Hour" event throughout China on March 25 at 8:30 p.m., during which time participants will avoid using electricity for an entire hour.
"The Paris Agreement (2016) demonstrates each country's determination to solve the issue of climate change. However, this is not solely the government's responsibility," Lu Sicheng, director general of the WWF in China, said at the announcement ceremony on Tuesday.
"For this year's Earth Hour, we want to express the idea that we need to fight together for a blue future. We hope everyone will take action in their daily lives and lead sustainable lifestyles," Lu said.
Earth Hour is a worldwide event organized by WWF that encourages individuals, families and enterprises to turn off all electrical devices for an hour during the night of the last Saturday of March.
Since the event began in 2007, millions of participants in 200 countries and regions around the world have taken part.
This year, the WWF has asked artist Han Meilin to act as its representative for the event, WWF told the Global Times at the event.
The 80-year-old artist has long been an advocate for environmental protection.
"As we all know, in August of last year, humans exhausted Earth's environmental budget for the year, which means we are in debt to our planet for the remaining days of the year," Han said at the closing ceremony of his latest exhibition at Beijing's National Museum of China on February 12.
Han was referring to Earth Overshoot Day, the date on which humanity's resource consumption for the year exceeds Earth's capacity to regenerate those resources that year.
The date, which is calculated by independent think tank Global Footprint Network, fell on August 8 in 2016, the earliest date ever.
In 2015, Han became the first Chinese artist to be designated an "Artist for Peace" by UNESCO.
