Expolanka leads Sri Lankans on ‘Earth Hour’ to protect the planet

Expolanka leads Sri Lanka to join hundreds of millions of people in 5,251 cities and towns, in 135 countries and territories across seven continents around the globe to commemorate ‘Earth Hour’ this year.

‘Earth Hour’ is the world’s largest voluntary environmental campaign to fight climate change and will happen on Saturday 31 March 2012 from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. when everyone is requested to switch off all non-essential lights as a symbolic act to support this cause. Sri Lanka is part in this global event initiated by WWF with Expolanka becoming the national partner for the ‘Earth Hour’ event to take place in this country.

Outlining initiatives to observe ‘Earth Hour’ this year, Head of Marketing & Corporate Communications, Expolanka Holdings Paddy Weerasekera said, “We’re proud to be a part of this gigantic universal project and have spared no pains to spread the message and engage as many Sri Lankans as possible. We invite all Sri Lankans to switch off as many lights as possible during this hour and become an active partner in this project.”

An awareness campaign to educate students about Earth Hour and Climate Change is currently being conducted by the undergraduates of the University of Moratuwa representing AIESEC. Powered by Expo Lanka, it plans to reach 5,000 students in 20+ schools by the end of the project and encourage them to join the ‘Earth Hour’ by being responsible citizens.

Among the schools taking part are D.S. Senanayake College, Mahanama College, Holy Family Convent Bambalapitiya, Girls High School Mt Lavinia, Royal College, St. Paul’s Milagiriya, St. Bridget’s Convent and more schools out of Colombo.

Educational material on the importance of Earth Hour is being displayed in class rooms and notice boards while questionnaires to measure the level of understanding of global warming have also been distributed. Reinforcing the overall message are interactive multi-media presentations making students understand the gravity of the situation.

Expolanka also brought down 25 undergraduates from different parts of the world in collaboration with AIESEC and the University of Moratuwa to conduct an energy audit on all of its companies with a view to reducing overall energy consumption.    

In an effort to engage as many players to make the world a better place to live, Expolanka has taken its commitment to a national level. Apart from the targeted 5000 students and an awareness programme on YES FM, it is also supported by its subsidiaries such as Expo Rail which uses the LCD screens in its rail carriages, and Neptune Recyclers which offer free bins for recycling paper to drive greater consciousness on the importance of Global Warming and Earth Hour.

In line with this year’s Earth Hour global campaign of ‘I Will if You Will,’ Expolanka has launched a challenge to people requesting them to ‘Go Beyond the Hour’ and do something for the environment. It could be something simple as planting a tree, recycling plastic bottles, refraining from using plastic bags, etc. You could log on to www.facebook/expolanka, show your commitment and receive a free and exclusive Earth Hour T-Shirt.  

“As a responsible corporate citizen, Expolanka PLC has always found avenues through which to support the environment and reduce energy usage. In line with this, we have also planned a series of programmes to educate our own staff across 14 countries as well. Let us act responsibly and join the targeted 18 billion people on 31 March. Let us also make this an ongoing movement and go beyond the hour to help save planet earth,” Weerasekera concluded.