Birmingham Hippodrome Joins WWF's Earth Hour

For the third consecutive year, on 23 March 2013 at 8.30pm, Birmingham Hippodrome will once again be supporting WWF's Earth Hour, the world's biggest call for action on the threats facing our planet.

Birmingham Hippodrome will be switching off all non-essential lighting at the front of the theatre during a performance of Cameron Mackintosh's brand-new production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera, joining in the global switch off which will see some of the world's most iconic buildings, including the London Eye and Edinburgh Castle, plunge into darkness in aid of climate change and safeguarding the natural world.

At the exact same time across the globe hundreds of millions of people will turn off their lights for one hour, on the same night, all across the world in a huge, symbolic show of support which will see places from New York to New Delhi going dark for the hour. In the UK last year, over 7.6 million people got involved, joining 3,500 schools and more than 1,200 businesses and organisations.

Mike Bradford, Director of Operations, Birmingham Hippodrome said: "In 2009 Birmingham Hippodrome became the first theatre in the UK to be registered to ISO14001 standard for Environmental Management Systems, we are now very proud to see the standard renewed once again this year. Earth Hour 2013 is a fantastic way of demonstrating our continued commitment to energy efficiency."

Rachel Bloodworth, spokesperson for WWF-UK, said, "WWF's Earth Hour 2013 is more than just an hour of darkness. It's a chance for people to come together and send out a global message about protecting our planet. We all want a brighter future so as we switch off the lights this year the focus will be on the kind of energy we use. Our planet needs us to move away from dirty fossil fuels to clean renewable energy, but we need to make that change right now. By taking one simple step to switch off you'll become part of something incredible to make that change a reality."

For more information on WWF's Earth Hour please visit www.wwf.org.uk/earthhour

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