For March, we checked in with Earth Hour to learn more about climate change, sexy green Sydney and the best way to stretch sixty minutes.

At 8:00pm on March 29th, lights around the world will be shut off for one hour to help combat climate change in an event called Earth Hour. For sixty minutes, people and businesses across the globe will turn off their lights to reduce energy consumption and to focus on the impact we humans are having on the planet.

Earth Hour began in Australia, where on March 31, 2007, 2.2 million people and 2100 Sydney businesses turned off their lights for one hour. This massive collective effort reduced Sydney’s energy consumption by 10.2% for one hour, which is the equivalent effect of taking 48,000 cars off the road for a year.

Created to take a stand against the greatest threat our planet has ever faced, Earth Hour uses the simple action of turning off the lights for one hour to deliver a powerful message about the need for action on global warming. Our continued reliance on electricity sourced from coal-fired power stations is causing a dramatic increase in the Earth’s temperature, resulting in rising sea levels, an increase in drought and severe storms, and massive changes to the environments we all rely on to survive. There is still time to change how our planet will look in the future. For example, if all Australian households simply turned off unused lights and appliances Australia’s emissions would be reduced by at least 5 million tons per year. The greenhouse gas savings would be equivalent to taking 1.5 million cars off the road for a year.

Earth Hour, run by WWF, started as a joint initiative between WWF-Australia, Fairfax Media and Leo Burnett for the city of Sydney. The operation and promotion of the event is carbon neutral and their intent is for Earth Hour to be adopted by other residents, communities, businesses and governments around the world to help demonstrate that individual action on a mass scale can help change our planet for the better. This year, millions of people in some of the world’s major capital cities, including Copenhagen, Toronto, Chicago, Melbourne, Brisbane San Francisco and Tel Aviv will unite and switch off for Earth Hour.

Earth Hour shows that, together, our small actions can make a difference to global warming. Do your part and join in! You can participate in Earth Hour individually or, if you’re extra sexy, you can organize your school, office or even city to flip the switch at 8:00pm on March 29th.