Friends of the Irish Environment

Friends of the Irish Environment (FIE), a network of environmentalists and conservationist committed to protecting ’s environment, first brought Earth Hour to in 2008. Inspired by what he thought was a clever idea to raise awareness about issues relating to climate change, Director, Tony Lowes has overcome many challenges to make Earth Hour in Ireland a huge success.

Despite this they have managed to engage the people of and establish Earth Hour on the Irish Environmental calendar. Schools, individuals, and businesses are organising their own Earth Hour events. For example, the Temple Bar Traders Association has been incredible supportive and will be darkening the entertainment district for Earth Hour.

A Dublin radio station is spreading the word about Earth Hour by encouraging listeners to contact them if they are having an Earth Hour event, in return they are giving away 500 Earth Hour branded pump torches to whoever contacts them.

The Local Authority Environmental Awareness Officers have organised a screening of ‘The Age of Stupid’ for the national launch of Earth Hour by the Minister for the Environment. The launch will in turn, encourage the 150 attendees to organise their own events across the country.

This year, in conjunction with WWF Northern Ireland, FIE organised a virtually torch relay with wind up torches between schools in and . The torch relay was launched by the Lord Mayor at St Brendan’s school in and is possibly the only cross border activity between countries.

All of these examples of support for Earth Hour reiterate the fact that, at its heart, Earth Hour is a grass roots campaign that is run for the people, by the people. Nowhere is this more evident than in the and the resolve of FIE to take action on climate change. By taking the Earth Hour ethos into , FIE has inspired individuals, business and communities to get involved and demand a resolution to the issue of global warming.

As a result, Earth Hour in is building on its success every year. Last year the Department of the Environment came on board with substantial in-house and media agency support. This included a subvention of €50,000 to the Irish Times for a special supplement on Earth Hour and certain targeted radio and television advertisements.

This year, local radio station Q102 has been a major driving force. Now in its second year promoting Earth Hour it feels ownership – the most valuable support of all – from people who feel Earth Hour belongs to them and they want to spread the message. This is the fundamental driving force of Earth Hour.

FIE is the perfect example of what can be achieved by a community coming together and proof that the commitment and determination of this community is the most powerful tool in the path to success.