Just a quick note this Friday to highlight that Earth Hour will be taking place this weekend, Saturday night at 8:30 pm wherever you live. We have been encouraging our internal community to participate in the event and I would urge anyone to join the millions that will be taking part around the world, via this link.

Here is background info from the Earth Hour website
Earth Hour started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia when 2.2 million homes and businesses turned their lights off for one hour to make their stand against climate change. Only a year later and Earth Hour had become a global sustainability movement with more than 50 million people across 35 countries participating. Global landmarks such as the, Sydney Harbour Bridge, The CN Tower in Toronto, The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, and Rome’s Colosseum, all stood in darkness, as symbols of hope for a cause that grows more urgent by the hour.

Earth Hour 2010 takes place on Saturday 27 March at 8.30pm (local time) and is a global call to action to every individual, every business and every community throughout the world. It is a call to stand up, to take responsibility, to get involved and lead the way towards a sustainable future. Iconic buildings and landmarks from Europe to Asia to the Americas will stand in darkness. People across the world from all walks of life will turn off their lights and join together in celebration and contemplation of the one thing we all have in common – our planet.

In my experience over the last couple of years raising the profile of Earth Hour within a large company like Avaya, there are a couple things that have been consistent year over year and across the world. First, the event seems to have had a nice impact on the Saturday night for families across the world. People used this event as a way to light candles, get away from the TV (hard in the U.S. this year with March Madness in full swing) and talk with their loved ones. Secondly, it is interesting to see the variety across locations, with some colleagues noting that their local neighborhoods noticeably darker and other places having no appreciable difference.

While Earth Hour is largely symbolic, it can have a decidedly positive impact on those that take part. After all, taking stock of our personal energy/resource use is a necessary step towards beginning to lowering it. My hope is that many out there can use Earth Hour to make that first step, I know it was helpful for me the first year I took part.

Lastly, here is the communication we pushed to employees this week, which is a great example of the type of employee communications we are trying to put in front of the Avaya community every week around sustainability and green topics. Many of my colleagues have responded positively to this and will be participating, which is great news and a nice example of the green interest and commitment within Avaya.

Avaya employee communication from 3/22

Join millions of people around the world who are standing up and taking action to demonstrate their commitment to Earth Hour 2010.

“Earth Hour is a global call to action to every individual, business and community. It’s an opportunity for all of us to show leadership and be responsible for our future,” explained Wilson Korol, sustainability business leader. “In support of this annual event, Avaya’s Green Core team is encouraging all employees worldwide to turn off the lights in their homes for one hour beginning at 8:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, Mar. 27.”

According to Korol, adopting a greener mindset in the workplace is essential; however, equally as important is walking that talk in our personal lives. “In this setting we have complete ownership for our activities, so it’s incumbent upon all of us to make some small sacrifices that translate into big differences for our environment.”
Employees interested in participating can register at www.EarthHour.org.

Be sure to check out the Web site to see if you live near any of the landmarks highlighted. It could be a great way to spend a Saturday and feel the spirit of green come alive.