Millions of homes and businesses around the world will be in the dark tonight as part of Earth Hour, an annual event meant to raise awareness about climate change and the environment.
The popular event, now in its seventh year, encourages individuals and organizations around the world to turn off all of their non-essential lights for one hour. This year, it’s scheduled to start at 8:30 p.m. during the participants’ local time.
In light of this event, I figured this would be the perfect time to shine some light on a few 'eco friendly' brands I've recently come across within the golf industry.
Lobster Shell Golf Balls - The lobster shell ball is produced by UMaine’s very own The Lobster Institute. Originally designed to be hit into the sea the lobster ball is made from waste lobster shells left over from the canning industry, a by-product that would otherwise be more waste in the landfill. These balls don’t fly as far as a regular ball but for the special summit tee off, or other non-retrievable tees (like the ocean) the lobster ball is the perfect solution to preventing pollution.
Chase54 - A new apparel brand launched earlier this year, is focused on bringing a new style to the golf course, using innovative eco-friendly materials such as coffee yarn fabric. Believe it or not, this material is derived from 36% recycled coffee grounds and blended with 64% polyester.
Now you can have your coffee and wear it too! Find our more on Chase54 at: www.chase54.com
Eco Golf - With millions of golf tees being used every year, Eco Golf is doing their part to manufacture eco-friendly tees, which will essentially help lower the carbon footprint of the golf industry. They're doing this in several ways including using post-industrial scrap polymer to manufacture the tees a process that makes them more durable (up to 100 strikes per tee) You can reduce your use of golf tees by up to 90% by switching from wood tees to Eco Golf tees.
More about Earth Hour
More than 7,000 cities and towns in 152 countries and territories took part in Earth Hour last year. The campaign broke records to become the largest voluntary action for the environment, and seems to continue to grow with each passing year.
Whether you’ve participated in Earth Hour before or are thinking about taking part for the first time, here are a few things you might not have known about the campaign.
The idea for Earth Hour was first conceived by the World Wildlife Federation in Australia in 2005 in response to scientific data revealing the devastating impact of climate change. The environmental advocacy group teamed up with advertising agency Leo Burnett and came up with the idea of a large-scale 'lights-out' event. Back then, the project was called "The Big Flick."
Major landmarks around the world have taken part in Earth Hour, including the Sydney Opera House, the Great Pyramids, the Empire State Building and the Las Vegas Strip. Even the so-called City of Lights has gone dark, with the Eiffel Tower shutting off its power.
Lights on Toronto's CN Tower were turned off during Earth Hour's first international campaign in 2008, as thousands of people across the city joined in.
For more information, visit www.earthhour.org
