Jamaicans will have the opportunity to join the global Earth Hour event in person at the Earth Hour JA Acoustic Concert 2023. The event, hosted by the ESIROM Foundation and Jamaicans Music, will be held at Hope Gardens, Palm Drive, on March 25 from 4:00 pm to 11:00 pm.

Earth Hour is an annual event created where participants are encouraged to “switch off” their lights and take an hour to do something positive for the planet, whether that’s planting trees, cleaning up the beach, cooking dinner with sustainable ingredients, or attending an Earth Hour event.

The Earth Hour JA Acoustic Concert is part of the global Earth Hour movement, which is the single, largest, symbolic mass participation event in the world.

This year’s Earth Hour JA Acoustic Concert will feature a lineup of artistes, including 5 Star Celestial, Jamila Falak, Ras-I, Joby Jay, and Fantan Mojah, with Queen Ifrica as the headliner.

Joby Jay, sharing with Our Today her thoughts on the Earth Hour, said: “I think it’s a topic [we] definitely need to have more conversations about. I think as humans we can become very selfish and we don’t think about how what we do affects the environment. I think things like this are very good for reminding us about being aware.”

Khalia Hall, sustainability coordinator at ESIROM Limited and ESIROM Foundation, said: “This year’s Earth Hour will also serve as a powerful reminder of the importance of our planet, the need to protect it, and how little time we have to do so. The ESIROM team has always championed this, and now, via the ESIROM Foundation as a bigger push, and we’re extremely happy to be back this year. For the first time in three years, this year’s Jamaica leg of the Earth Hour 2023 comes in hot on the heels of country’s opening up, and so we’ll be back in person.”

Alex Morrisey, director at ESIROM Limited and CEO at Jamaicans Music, added: “Over the last three years of the pandemic, we hosted the show virtually, keeping in tune with our mantra of spreading continued awareness.”

In commitment to sustainability efforts, the ticketing system will be digitalised, certain single-use plastics will be prohibited, and only reusable or biodegradable materials will be used for the layout and decor.

In addition, patrons who take Uber to Earth Hour will get US$6 off their ride to encourage carpooling.

Tickets are free and available at https://www.earthhourja.com/events/