Posted on 04 December 2009

Sydney, Australia: A message for world leaders on the urgency for decisive action on climate changte is on its way to Copenhagen - in the form of The People’s Orb - a shimmering 20cm silver sphere containing a 350 gigabyte mosaic of stories, voices, images and action on climate change collected from around the world .

An initiative of WWF's Earth Hour that has been embraced by all major community climate campaigns, the orb was unveiled in Sydney by the first joint honorary custodians, Sydney Lord Mayor, Clover Moore MP and 14 year old “Climate Girl” Parrys Raines

The People’s Orb is to be presented to a representative of world leaders during a dedicated Earth Hour Copenhagen when the lights of the city will be turned off for one hour from 7pm on Wednesday 16 December - a highly timely reminder of Earth Hour earlier this year when hundreds of millions globally demonstrated their wish for a fair, ambitious and binding agreement on climate change to emerge from the crucial Copenhagen summit which kicks off Monday.

During its journey, The Orb will be entrusted to a sequence of honorary custodians, including Professor Tim Flannery,  WWF International Director General, Mr Jim Leape and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director, Mr Achim Steiner..

The Orb will arrive in the city on Saturday 5 December via The Climate Express - a train which left the previous treaty deal city of Kyoto, Japan, last month.

Earth Hour Executive Director, Andy Ridley, says that the huge numbers of people who took part in Earth Hour 2009 – when hundreds of millions of people in over 4000 cities and towns in 88 countries throughout the world voted for Earth over global warming by turning off their lights - is evidence that the planet’s population is calling for definitive action on climate change.

“The People’s Orb represents the spirit of collaboration across the globe. It gives the world’s citizens a voice to make a difference in the global battle against climate change,” Ridley says.

The People’s Orb will retain sufficient memory for world leaders to include the final piece - a binding agreement for the future of the planet.

Campaigns supporting the orb include Vote Earth, tcktcktck, 350.org, Seal the Deal, Raise Your Voice, Hopenhagen, the Copenhagen Climate Council and the Earth Journalism Awards.

A global appeal for suggestions of material to be included in The People’s Orb has sparked conversation across the world. Social media networks facebook and twitter are already a buzz with suggestions and comments from the planets citizens.

Michael Jackson’s Earth Song has been the number one suggestion via online forums. Further suggestions being suggested on blogs, twitter and facebook,  inspirational quotes from throughout the ages ( “We do not inherit the world from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children”)  and a copy of The Girl Who Silenced The World For 5 Minutes (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQmz6Rbpnu0).

Along with suggestions from individuals, The People’s Orb will also contain key climate change reports from the world’s most eminent scientists; representation from the world’s great thinkers on the need for action on climate change and representation from the leaders of the world’s cities calling for action on climate change.

Suggestions for what should be included in The People’s Orb are being collected via Twitter (www.twitter/earthhour), Facebook (www.facebook.com/earthhour) and the Earth Hour blog - earthhourblog.posterous.com.


Notes to Editors

Businesses, community groups and individuals are encouraged to host a Vote Earth ballot box on their website. For more information, go to http://www.earthhour.org/HowCanIShowSupport.aspx.

About Earth Hour’s Vote Earth
Earth Hour’s Vote Earth campaign builds on the call for action on climate change provided by millions of people, companies and communities during Earth Hour. The campaign aims to provide a platform for the people of the world to deliver world leaders a mandate for the right decision to be made at the United Nations Climate Summit in Copenhagen in December 2009. Find out more about the campaign at www.earthhour.org Earth Hour’s Vote Earth is organised by WWF.

About WWF
WWF is one of the world's largest and most respected independent conservation organizations, with almost 5 million supporters and a global network active in over 100 countries. WWF's mission is to stop the degradation of the earth's natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature, by conserving the world's biological diversity, ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable, and promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption.

For more information:
Kirsten Hodgon
Earth Hour Global
M: +61 (0) 424 507 095
E: Khodgon@wwf.org.au