The I Will If You Will concept invites people and organisations to challenge others – whether it is friends, family or customers – to a challenge, uniting them behind the common goal of creating a positive environmental outcome.

The Earth Hour YouTube platform will host a global library of “I Will If You Will” challenges, and we encourage people to share their “dare” publicly through Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and email. Take a look  at I will if you Will.  Friends and colleagues can be invited to participate and accept each challenge using these popular social networks.

It’s easy, the promise can range from recycling, to switching to energy efficient light bulbs, turning off your mobile charger, signing up for paperless banking, or signing up to Earth Hour.

Now, what are YOU willing to do to make sure that they carry out that promise? The dare, well how big is your imagination? Would you sing karaoke? Skinny dip? Shave your head? We want you to upload you’re personal challenges on the Earth Hour YouTube platform.

Through a single act you could inspire 1000s of others to take action, so remember, those who dare… win!

WWF’s Earth Hour is about people getting together to celebrate our brilliant planet – that’s why we’ve launched our fantastic new UK event map. You’re just a click away from connecting with Earth Hour events and like-minded people across the UK.

Whether you’re looking for inspiration for what to do during the hour, you want to share what you’re planning, or you simply want to let people know what Earth Hour means to you, the map is the place to go.

There’s already thousands of people and events marked on the map and it’s already bringing people together– we’ve just got word that seven people living in north west London found each other on our events map. They’ve decided to get together by candle light to build their individual wind farm installations to take home.

We’ve also found out that there’s an Earth Hour wedding on the night, night cycle-rides planned, and candlelit dinner parties popping up across the UK.

So sign up and check out what’s happening in your community. You could join or start a spooky storytelling night, or a board game marathon with your neighbours. Enjoying Earth Hour with new people could spark some ideas for things you can do as a community to help protect our brilliant planet. By coming together we can help keep it that way.

Search WWF’s Earth Hour map for ideas, locations and people to spend an amazing hour with!

But we can’t do it alone. We need nations across the world to become more energy efficient and to do that we need to lead the way, in the UK and in Europe.

On the 28th February the European Parliament will vote on the detail of important legislation on energy efficiency. This will require all the members of the European Union to increase their energy efficiency by 20% by 2020 and is critical for us to avoid some of the worst impacts of climate change.

Despite the importance of this energy efficiency target it is already under threat with many trying to water down key measures that will deliver energy efficiency. WWF is working hard with colleagues in Europe to ensure that the vote on the 28th deliverson energy efficiency for Europe and puts us on the right path for a low carbon future fit for people and planet.

While we are waiting to see the results for this legislation, hereare some easy steps to help us reduce our energy demand and make a difference.

Well, though it might sound complicated, in reality, eating what’s healthy for you turns out to be pretty healthy for the planet too. That’s what our ‘Livewell’ idea is all about. By following five simple steps you can make a great meal which can make a difference to our health and the planet:

1. Eat more plants – enjoy fruit and veg
2.  Waste less food – up to 30% of what is brought home is wasted
3. Eat less meat – Meat, be it red or white, can be a tasty complement rather than just a centre piece of a good meal
4. Eat less processed food – as they tend to be more resource intensive to produce and often contain high levels of sugar, fat and salt
5.  Eat certified food – buy food that meets a credible certified standard – like MSC for fish or RSPO for palm oil or RSPCA Freedom Foods for meat and eggs.

To help you get started (there is not a lot of time left), we have asked some of the country’s best chefs to come up with delicious recipes that follow the principles of Livewell.

Inspired? Send your own recipe to our competition. Hurry up, competition closes on Sunday.

This can also be your test run for the Earth Hour candlelit dinner party.

One community – be that your school, workplace, street, village, pub or club – will lead the UK’s Earth Hour switch off and landmarks like Buckingham Palace, Big Ben and Edinburgh Castle, could follow as you switch off to make a stand for the planet.

To put yourself in the running, tell us why you are the obvious choice to become WWF’s Champion Community for 2012. As well as leading the UK switch off you’ll also receive a grant of £1000 from our offical partner MORETH>N to make your event even more brilliant! On top of that, we’ll also have national winners (England, N. Ireland, Scotland and Wales) who will each recieve £300 for their event.

Let us know here why your community should lead the switch off

For lots of ideas on other ways you can celebrate WWF’s Earth Hour, please visit our Get involved  page.

For more information on the hazards of releasing floating paper lanterns, please visit:

• The Chief Fire Officer’s Association:

http://www.cfoa.org.uk/12050

• NFU:

 http://www.nfuonline.com/article.aspxid=2147499827&terms=chinese+lanterns

• Wildlife Trusts:

http://www.surreywildlifetrust.org/news/52

With the anniversary of the Fukishima nuclear disaster coming up in March, WWF in Japan will be submitting a petition to the government as part of a 100% Renewable Energy Campaign. We’re asking for international support to increase the signatures on the petition – please sign it now!

After last year’s tsunami triggered the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant, the Japanese government decided to rethink its overall energy policies and review its ‘Basic Energy Plan’ document.

© WWF-UK Earth Hour blogger

  Our campaign is asking for no new nuclear power plants to be built in Japan, and a gradual closure of all 54 existing plants by around 2050. We also want to avoid dependence on climate-changing fossil fuels.

Tens of thousands of people have already signed our petition, which demands that the following five factors be incorporated into the revised Basic Energy Plan:

1. A goal of 100% renewable energy.

2. Increased liberalisation of the electricity market and creation of a next-generation electricity network.

3. A future not reliant on nuclear power.

4. A society not dependent on fossil fuels (oil, coal, natural gas) for energy, to minimise climate change.

5. Achieving sustainable lifestyles without sacrificing convenience, through massive energy savings and much reduced energy consumption compared to now.

We launched the petition in May last year and so far have had about 54,000 signatures in Japan and about 1,800 from the rest of the world. But we believe the more signatures we can gather, the greater our chances of success.

Although the petition concerns Japanese energy policy, nuclear disasters like Fukushima have global consequences. That’s why we’re calling for signatures internationally. Support from around the world will also give the Japanese government the decision-making power it needs to promote a shift toward 100% renewable energy.

And we believe signatures from you in the UK, a country leading efforts to tackle climate change issues, would be particularly significant.

We intend to submit our petition in February. So please support us by signing now.

You can…

Take action now – sign our petition!

Read WWF UK report on how renewable electricity can transform the UK by 2030

(Please note, the opinions expressed in our guest blogs are those of our guest writers, and not necessarily shared by WWF.) Read more of our guest blogs.

That’s a lot of meals! So to make sure everyone has plenty of options we have asked our Earth Hour supporters to send us their delicious recipes inspired by our five easy-to-follow Livewell principles.

In a few days, We will submit the best five to public vote with the eventual winner crowned Earth Hour masterchef and their recipe named as our Official Earth Hour 2012 Supporter Recipe. Watch this space.

Niall McKenna

Niall McKenna, finalist in the Great British Menu and owner of the award-winning James Street South Restaurant in Belfast, works hard to source the best and most sustainable ingredients for his restaurant and believes passionately in a food system that’s healthy for people and the planet.

“The more you come to understand cooking, the more your eyes are opened to the incredible variety and rich diversity that the natural world provides us. WWF’s Earth Hour is a great celebration of this fantastic place we live in and helps us realise the many things we can all do to help protect it.” Niall McKenna

Baked fig with chicory leaf, truffled honey and toasted sourdough

Bakes fig with chicory leaf, truffled honey and toasted sourdough © Aaron McCracken

Serves 4

• 2 figs (black if possible)
• One chicory bulb
• Frisee and watercress leaves to dress
• ½ loaf Sourdough bread frozen
• 2tbsp honey
• 1tsp chopped black truffle
• 1tsp cabernet sauvignon vinegar
• 100ml extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Thinly slice sourdough (as thin as you can)

Place on baking try on parchment paper, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper, bake in oven at 160°C for around 10-15mins (or until golden)

Season the vinegar with salt and pepper, add honey and truffle and slowly mix with spoon the olive oil to emulsify

place fig on baking try, drizzle over some of the honey mixture and bake in oven at 180°C for 10 mins

Separate chicory leaves and mix with other salad, season and drizzle with olive oil

Place figs on plate, garnish with salad leaves, sourdough croute, finish with drizzle of truffle honey dressing

Lissara duck breast with organic beetroot, salsify, cavolo, saffron, potato and treacle jus.

Lissara duck © Aaron McCracken

Serves 2

• 2 lissara duck breasts
• 1 large bulb beetroot
• 2 sticks salsify
• 1 large baking potato
• Pinch saffron
• 1 tbsp treacle
• 2 cavolo nero leaves washed and blanched
• 1 cup of duck jus
• Salt and pepper to season

Method

Place whole beetroot in water with salt and boil until tender, remove from water and peel

Peel salsify, cut into finger sized sticks, place in a pot of water with squeeze lemon juice and gentle simmer until tender

Peel potato make balls of raw potato with melon-baller, place in pot and cover with water, add saffron and pinch of salt and bring to the boil, simmer until tender

Season duck both sides, place skin side down on cool frying pan, cook over a moderate heat until fat begins to render without turning, pour off excess fat, cook until skin is thin and golden, turn over and seal flesh side. Place in oven at 180°C for 8-10 mins until pink. Allow to rest for 10mins.

Bring duck jus and treacle to the boil and reduce until sauce like consistency, taste to check seasoning

Cut beetroot into wedges, warm through in oven with salsify, cavolo nero and potato

Carve duck, place in bowl, garnish with warmed vegetables, drizzle with sauce

Pear and rosemary jelly with coconut sorbet

Pear and rosemary jelly © Aaron McCracken

Serves 2

• 2 pears
• 500ml of coconut puree
• 600ml stock syrup
• 100ml water
• 1tbsp glucose
• 1 lime
• Agar agar
• Sprig of rosemary
• 1 star anise

Peel pear and poach in 400ml stock syrup with star anise and a sprig of rosemary until tender

Allow to cool in liquid

Whisk water with 200ml stock syrup, glycose, coconut puree, squeeze in lime juice of half the lime churn in ice-cream machine

Remove pears from syrup, cut into wedges and remove core

Take 100ml of poaching syrup add 100ml water bring to the boil whisk in 2g of agar agar and pour into lined jelly moulds with a few slice of the poached pear and allow to set.

Turn out jelly and serve with poached pear and scoop of sorbet.

http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/348407/discovery-vertical-10k-marathon-slated