Saturday at 8:30 p.m., is the time to turn off your lights to recognize Earth Hour.

The seed for this event was in 2007 when the World Wildlife Federation organized an Earth Hour in Sydney.  The WWF says it has now grown to become one of the world’s largest grassroots movements for the environment.

Because there is so much bad news about wildlife and the climate crisis, WWF-Canada is shining a spotlight on the wins for nature where people have been able to turn things around.  The whooping crane had decline to only 14 birds because of habitat loss and hunting, but thanks to conservation efforts, the species is recovering.  The WWF says whooping cranes nest in Wood Buffalo National Park in northeast Alberta and then as they fly south, they stay in the Saskatoon area for a few weeks in the fall to feed on waste grain.

Turning your lights off for an hour is a symbolic gesture of commitment towards being stewards for the environment.