Arusha Centre and other Calgary environmental groups celebrate Earth Hour at Central Library

Hundreds of Calgarians showed up at the Central Library to celebrate Earth Hour Saturday night

Earth Hour wasn’t here for a long time, but it was a good time for a good cause, according to a spokesperson for the host organization.

Saturday evening at the Central Library, the Arusha Centre hosted an event that featured interactive booths, Indigenous performances, a film screening, a Repair Exchange and more, said Arusha spokesperson Natalie Calles, who is the organization’s circular economy manager.

“We’re really happy to bring people together today to celebrate Earth Hour,” Calles said of the event, which actually lasted three and a half hours.

“We’re just excited to bring people together and have a moment of community celebrating environmental issues,” Calles added.

According to the Earth Hour website, supporters from over 118 countries and territories gave 2, 924,907 hours of time including 446,491for restoring the planet, 1,971,611 learning more about the planet, 395,696 for inspiring others to care for our planet and 6,998 hours finding other ways to make an impact.

At the Central Library, Calles said the turnout to celebrate Earth Hour was significant.

“So far, we’ve reached over 350 people, Calgarians, who have joined us,” she said. “We’re so happy again that we are able to host this in a space such as the library, so we can really get together and have community connection with one another.”