HEAD of the Office of Climate Change (OCC), Janelle Christian, has called on Lindeners to be more circumspect about the environment.

“Give consideration to our environment and nature. We have to be cognisant of how our action is impacting on nature,” she urged last Saturday during the hosting of the Earth Hour concert in the mining town of Linden.

Noting that the action of each individual can add up significantly, Christian said it is therefore imperative that everyone tries to do their best to make that difference where the environment is concerned.

The first event of its kind to be held in Linden, the Earth Hour 2019 concert was held on the Courts’ tarmac on Republic Avenue, Mackenzie, under the theme, ‘Connect2Earth’, with the intention of building a mass awareness on the importance of nature and creating an unstoppable movement for nature.

Speaking at the event, Deputy Mayor of Linden, Waynewright Bethune said that climate change is a very important issue and it calls for the human race to change some of their basic practices in order to stop contributing to climate change, if not, “we are endangering our planet.”

He charged the residents to “pay keen attention to grasp some of the practices that we can inherent and some of that we can do from tonight hence forth to ensure that we have a clean environment and to ensure that we have a clean planet.”

According to Christian, the Office of Climate Change (OCC) within the Ministry of the Presidency is responsible for leading the government’s actions as it relates to policies, strategies and plans to adapt to the changing impacts that are evident as a result of climate change.

Christian noted that OCC also is responsible for the sustainable forest management and transitioning to renewable energy which is their way of contributing to the country’s advancement to mitigation ambition.

She added, “however, the important part of our work aside from doing policy type work is to educate the public and the average citizen as it relates to climate change, its impact and what you can do to make a contribution to this global crisis that we are experiencing today.”

The main event on Saturday was the “Lights Out” occasion. The night saw the switching off of non-essential lights from 20:30hrs to 21:30hrs, cultural pieces, performances by guest artistes such as Brandon Harding, and the symbolic lighting of the ‘60+’ emblem.

Commencing as a symbolic light out event in Sydney, Australia in 2007, Earth Hour is now the world’s primary grassroots movement for the environment, inspiring millions of people to take action for our planet and nature. It takes place annually at the end of March.

The first earth hour in Sydney accounted for a reduction of 10.2 percent in the consumption of energy across the city. It is the only event of the year when a maximum number of people around the world participate in a single movement and turn off the lights for an hour.