East London’s V&A Museum of Childhood

The Fableists recently hit up the Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green. It’s great to have such a fab museum on the right side of town! Parents rest assured, it is literally steps from Bethnal Green station – and it’s free. For locals, it is an ideal place to take kids on a rainy day. There is plenty to keep their attention but also several interactive and play areas that allow them to roam free and get stuck in.

The Museum of Childhood houses the Victoria and Albert Museum’s collection of childhood-related objects and artefacts, spanning the 1600s to the present day. The building was purpose built as a museum and was opened by the Prince of Wales as the Bethnal Green Museum in 1871. It was built as a second, East London outpost of the Brompton-based museum that had been opened some years earlier to house the Department of Practical Arts and the collections of the Museum of Manufacturers, the School of Design and items from the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations of 1851.

Although it was meant to promote awareness of Britain’s cultural heritage to the East End, it had no specific purpose. Members of the royal family began housing excess items in the building and it was then closed during the Second Word War to keep those items safe.

When the museum re-opened, the curator noticed that it was often full of noisy (and bored) children. So he began to fill it with items to amuse them. Queen Mary (the wife of King George V) donated several of her own toys, as did other people who were interested in the project. Slowly, the collection of childhood-related items grew until, in 1973, it became the Museum of Childhood.

I arrived with two tired kids, so I wasn’t sure how long we’d last. They immediately perked up at the large, welcoming space. There is plenty of space for kids to explore on their own and anything they can’t touch is behind glass. Phew!

There is currently an exhibition in the entrance area called ‘Confiscated Cabinets’, a display of artefacts confiscated in 150 London schools over the last three decades and collected by artist and teacher Guy Tarrant. The homemade games, keepsakes, toys, weapons and other forbidden objects fascinated my kids and fired my nostalgia. The display opened at the V&A Museum of Childhood on 9 November 2013
and runs until 1 June 2014. It’s well worth the visit.

Upcoming events include Daydreams and Diaries: The Story of Jacqueline Wilson, Daydreams and Diaries: The Story of Jacqueline Wilson and Toy Stories, which looks at the role and function of toys in the lives of children around the globe.

The benugo Café is located at the heart of the open-plan space. Fresh, healthy meals are served with lots of kid-friendly items on offer. There is an area outside with picnic tables, if you bring a packed lunch. The Museum also features a quiet room, buggy park and free WiFi throughout the building.

There are daily free activities, including arts and crafts, storytelling and treasure hunts, so it’s definitely worth checking out the times before heading out. The museum has a private party space available for hire as well as a shop.

Open from 10-17:45 daily. Free of charge. Bethnal Green tube. www.museumofchildhood.org.uk

Our First Brand Film by Director Olivier Venturini is Almost Ready to Premiere

Finn

Yesterday The Fableists headed to Jungle Studios, in Soho, to record a voice over for our first brand film. This film will be released very soon, so follow our blog, or our Facebook and twitter accounts to be among the first to see it.

The film was directed by Olivier Venturini of global production company Great Guns. You can find out about the shoot here and read Olivier’s answers about the film project here.

Venturini’s idea is to create a series of films about kids who have a passion or talent for something – The Fableists. This first film follows 8-year old skateboarder Finn around his London circuit. It’s a beautiful film featuring original music by band Delta Mainline.

Our voice over, courtesy of Amelie, was recorded by sound engineer Culum Simpson, with direction from Brothers and Sisters creative Jack Kerruish and producer Phoebe Rixon. Jack and Phoebe then went on to Electric Theatre to oversee the grading.

We can’t wait to share this short film with you – the first of the series. So keep your eyes peeled for posts about it.

A huge thank you to everyone involved.
The Fableists

Come and see The Fableists’ Kickstarter Campaign

We are ready to start production on our second collection. We have sampled the items and are so excited to share them with you. In order to fund the second collection, we are running a Kickstarter campaign.

Upon the successful completion of the campaign, we will be able to press go on our order. Our clothes take up to three months to produce, so that would mean that the next collection would be available at the end of the summer.

We have some beautiful new items, which we will be sharing with you over the coming weeks.

Please come and have a look at our Kickstarter page. We’d really love your support so that we can produce our next round of sustainable and ethically made clothes for kids. We’re on a mission to change the way that people buy clothes and we need your support.

If crowdfunding is new to you, then you should definitely check it out. It’s a really exciting way that creative businesses can fund their projects with the support of the public. Backers may come on board with a pledge for many reasons:

They may be friends or family offering a helping hand;
They could be colleagues who believe in the person looking for funding;
They can be people who share the interest in fashion and sustainability;
They could be looking for more great clothes for their kids;
They could simply like the look of what you’re doing and want to be able to say they backed you way back when;
Or, they could be backing you to get some of the rewards you are offering for different tiers of pledge.

Regardless of their reasons for coming on board, Kickstarter is an amazing and social way to raise money for your project. It’s worth coming to check it out and see how it works.

We would really appreciate your support and won’t let you down with our next collection! The designs are all really beautiful with the same attention to detail, durability, and style as the first collection. You won’t be disappointed.

Come and see us on Kickstarter.

Thanks for taking a look!

 

Survivors of the Rana Plaza Building Collapse to Start Claiming Compensation

ViaFrom yesterday – March 24th – one month before the first anniversary of the Rana Plaza building collapse in Bangladesh, the families of the 1138 workers killed in the disaster and over a thousand workers left with life changing injuries can start registering claims for compensation to cover the financial losses and medical costs they suffered as a result. As the claims begin campaigners are strengthening their call for brands buying from factories located in the devastated building, including Matalan, Benetton and Walmart, to pay millions of dollars in compensation into the Rana Plaza Donors Trust Fund, set up to finance these payments.

The Trust Fund, which has been set up by the International Labour Organisation has been open for contributions since February. The Fund needs to reach a final target of $40million in order to pay out full compensation to all workers and their families. The experts involved in designing the process estimated that 25% of the final target would be needed to make the first round of payments to all workers. The coordination committee now believe that sufficient funds are available and agreed to launch the claims process on March 24^th, one month before the first anniversary.

The claims will be calculated and delivered in line with international standards under a system known as the Arrangement. The process will be overseen by a multi-stakeholder coordination committee comprising of international and Bangladeshi representatives from government, industry and the trade unions. The timing of the claims launch will ensure that all victims and their family should receive an initial payment by the first anniversary of the disaster on April 24^th. All beneficiaries will be invited to submit a claim, with the aim to process all payments within six months, which will paid out over up to four instalments. Every family will receive a minimum payment of 50,000 BDT by 24th April (around $2 million in total) as an advance payment towards their claim. Those workers whose claims can be fully processed by April 24^th will also receive their first full instalment, which will represent 20% of their total claim.

The only barrier now in getting compensation to the victims of the garment industry’s worst ever disaster is the refusal of many brands, including Italian fashion brand Benetton, UK high street brand Matalan and retail giant Walmart to make significant contributions to the Fund.

Ten brands have already confirmed donations into the Fund, including Mango, Inditex and C&A. This week an agreement was reached between the Coordination Committee of the Arrangement, the multi-stakeholder body overseeing the compensation process, and Primark, which initially set up its own process for delivering payments to 500 workers employed at New Wave Bottoms, the factory supplying the Anglo Irish retailer. Under the agreement workers employed at New Wave Bottoms will now be brought under the Arrangement process and their claims will be assessed using the same criteria and methodology as all other affected workers. Payments to NWB workers will be made directly by Primark, but the timescale will be coordinated to ensure all families are treated fairly and equitably. Primark have made an initial contribution of $1 million to the Trust Fund; once their direct payments have been calculated it is expected their final contribution will be around $9 million.

However, the final $40 million target remains a long way off and more contributions are urgently needed if the Fund is to cover all the claims. Labour rights campaigners from the Clean Clothes Campaign across Europe, the International Labor Rights Forum in the United States, and the Maquila Solidarity Network in Canada are calling on other multi-million brands, including Benetton, Walmart and Matalan to stop dragging their feet.

Emma Harbour of the Clean Clothes Campaign states: “These brands already failed these workers once by failing to ensure the factories they were using met national and international standards for safety. Almost a year later and they are failing them again – refusing to contribute what is needed to help these families to start rebuilding their lives”.

She adds: “For the first time ever we have a system in place for making sure payments get directly to those families that deserve them. Benetton has no excuse for not paying in and can easily afford a USD 5 million contribution to the fund. Any less would be an insult to all those who were killed and injured.’

“There is no time to wait – we have one month to find $40 million. We urge Benetton to make this contribution immediately and to confirm publicly that it has done so.”

To find out more about the PayUp Campaign see www.cleanclothes.org/ranaplaza

Rainbow Collective’s Documentary ‘Tears in the Fabric’ Helps Raise Funds for Rana Plaza Victims

Raising For Rana is a not-for-profit initiative in association with charity organisations including War on Want and Traid. It is in place to raise awareness and raise funds for the victims of the Rana Plaza collapse. A fundraising event will take place on the 24th April 2014; exactly one year on from the disaster. The event will feature a film premiere and charity auction.

This event is organised by Rainbow Collective, a unique production company, formed as a social enterprise and committed to raising awareness on issues of human and childrens’ rights through powerful cinematic documentaries. Filmmakers Hannan Majid and Richard York have collaborated with Amnesty International, The Consortium For Street Children, War On Want, ActionAid and many others.

The Fableists spoke to Richard and Hannan about Raising for Rana.

The Fableists > Your latest documentary film, ‘Tears in the Fabric’ will premiere on April 24th. Can you tell us the significance of the date you’ve chosen?

Rainbow Collective > April the 24th 2014 is the one year anniversary of the Rana Plaza factory collapse, so we thought it would be the ideal date on which to premiere “Tears in the Fabric.”

Last year, a couple of weeks after the disaster, we ran a fundraiser for the families of the victims and screened our earlier film “The Machinists” as part of the event. We wanted to build on that for the 1 year anniversary.

The Fableists > You’ve shot in Bangladesh about the garment trade in the past. Tell us about your previous work on this topic.

Rainbow Collective > We’ve actually shot 2 other films on or around the subject of garment workers in Bangladesh.

In 2010 we made “The Machinists” for the Al Jazeera channel, which was a 45 minute observational doc following the lives of 3 garment working families, with an emphasis on the women workers. The film also followed the head of a garment workers trade union, the NGWF, and his fight to secure a better life for the workers. The film was successful on its broadcast and we were very pleased to be able to give it an extended life by offering it to campaigners, pressure groups and such like in order to raise awareness and funds for female garment workers in Bangladesh and beyond.

Our other film, “Mass-e-Bhat” is a feature length doc, supported by Channel 4 Britdoc Foundation, recounting the life of a young man in Bangladesh’s largest slum. Through the telling of his story and his travels from the rural villages to the rubbish tips and garment factories of Dhaka, the audience is shown a series of short observational stories about young people living in those situations in the country’s present.

Through the story of 1 person’s life, “Mass-e-Bhat”, which is to be released this summer, really gives a comprehensive overview of the wider social factors, which keep the garment factories full of workers fresh from the villages.

The Fableists > Do you have a personal connection to this cause and how did you get involved?

Rainbow Collective > Hannan’s family are originally from Bangladesh and he still has many relatives there. Some of them work in the garments trade; through some family and friend connections we were able to gain access to begin filming “Mass-e-Bhat” in 2008.

Our social enterprise production company, Rainbow Collective, was always set up as a way to produce films which could serve wider purposes beyond traditional distribution, so we began to connect the scenes which we were filming with campaigns via a wide range of grass-roots and international NGOs.

The more we’ve campaigned on the issue, the more stories have presented themselves which we are keen to highlight. Unfortunately these stories of late have involved workers losing their lives whether in Tazreen Fire or Rana Plaza. Which made us more determined to highlight these issues.

The Fableists > Richard and Hannan, you are both filmmakers and have worked together for many years. How long have you been working together and how did you meet?

Rainbow Collective > We met at the Northern Film School in Leeds in 2002. We both had different skills and specialisms but after graduation we had the opportunity to co-direct a feature length documentary in South Africa, “AmaZulu: The Children of Heaven”.

The film went on to receive cinema distribution in South Africa and also to be used as a tool by the South African government to encourage and inspire head teachers in KwaZulu Natal province.

This established the model upon which we’ve based the last 10 years of our working relationship – making character led, cinematic documentaries which can be used over the years for to promote social change.

The Fableists > While working on ‘Tears in the Fabric’, you filmed in Savar, Bangladesh, where the Rana Plaza building was. What has happened to the site over the past year?

Rainbow Collective > The whole town of Savar seems to be under a cloud, even a year on from the disaster. The site itself has mostly been cleared now and has become a kind of dark green swamp in between 2 other buildings. As we see in “Tears in the Fabric” though, the rubble, machinery and everything else caught up in the collapse was transported away from the site and dumped in huge piles, right beside the neighborhoods where many of the victims and their families live, just down the road from the site.

According to locals, when they first dumped the stuff there, the smell of decaying bodies was so strong nobody could go near it and anybody trying to investigate the dumping ground would be beaten by the police. The site is now strewn with a combination of the garments that the locals were producing for western brands and the clothes which the workers themselves were wearing when the building collapsed. In all of our time filming together, it was certainly the most challenging and disturbing environment we’ve found ourselves in.

The Fableists > With this film, you were eager to tell the story of the people affected by the building collapse, rather than the brands involved. Why was this important to you?

Rainbow Collective > Over the past year, there’s been a number of documentaries and journalistic reports focusing on the big-name brands and their responsibility for the disaster. While these films are very important in raising public awareness, we felt that there was a real lack of voices from the people who were affected most – the victims themselves and their families. It sometimes seems that western audiences only really believe a report or a current affairs doc if it’s fronted by a well spoken, well educated western journalist and often, even when they do have a local person being interviewed, their voice is dubbed over by an English interpreter, rather than subtitled.

In the case of Rana Plaza, we agree that the brands should be shown up for their role in the disaster, but we also want the people who were most affected to have the chance to be heard as well, rather than to become yet more faceless statistics in a political debate. For this reason, we also interviewed around 20 victims and bereaved family members as part of an online resource site to be used by academics, journalists and campaigners in years to come.

The Fableists > Your documentary follows a grandmother in Savar who has been affected by the Rana Plaza disaster. Can you tell us a bit about her?

Rainbow Collective > Razia Begum is a grandmother who lost her two daughters and a son in law in the disaster. She now looks after her two young grandsons and is struggling to make ends meet and to come to terms with the enormity of her loss. When her family was still alive, they all lived together in a nice house with plenty of food and the kids were in an expensive private school. Now, however, Razia and the boys have found themselves homeless and relying on the goodwill of others in order to survive. The film follows the distraught but resilient Razia, a year on from losing most of her family, as she struggles to educate her grandchildren while fighting for compensation from the brands.

The Fableists > Your subject matter is very emotional and must be very affecting to work on. How do prepare for a shoot with this kind of human story?

Rainbow Collective > We have worked on the garments topic for some time and have spent many years campaigning on this issue so the background information that we needed for a shoot like this was already there. We did as much research as we could from the UK before going out because of our regular connection with the people at the National Garment Workers Federation who were organising all the interviewees.

When shooting documentaries you have to expect the unexpected, and that happened to us many times on this shoot. The family that we were originally going to shoot with had left Savar and gone to the village on holiday and so had our back-up family. Kobir, the head of the NGWF’s Savar office, then introduced us to Razia Begum who is the main character in ‘Tears In the Fabric’.

Of course it was very emotional time for us because we had to take in many testimonials that we shot as well as spending the time with Razia Begum and seeing how the loss of two girls and a son in law has affected her. We have worked with the Bangladeshi garment-making community for a few years now and it is a subject very close to our hearts so to see the aftermath and human cost of such a disaster close up was hard. In situations like you have to be strong, our purpose of being there was to document what is happening and we hope through that we can create some positive changes that can benefit the people of Savar. Those people are talking to us for the same reason so that it was important to hold our emotions together and carry on shooting.

Many docs have appeared in the past year that have focussed on the brands who were manufacturing in the building and the consumers who buy those brands. There have been many documentaries from all over the world who have dealt with the Rana Plaza. All these documentaries have been very focused on the brands. They do this because most of the documentaries audience will probably be buying those brands. A majority of the brands on the high street in London, Paris, Madrid, Dubai, New York etc., have been making clothes in Rana Plaza. So its just regular people and its not really fair to assume that all those people should know the ethics of these brands. These brands need to really look at the way they are doing business in Bangladesh and rather than exploit the work force for as many hours and little pay as possible should be looking at how it can help develop that industry into a safe and happy work place.

The Fableists > Your premiere event on April 24th in London will feature a charity auction. Where will the funds raised go?

Rainbow Collective > In response to the Rana Plaza collapse last year we decided to screen our documentary ‘The Machinists’ which was about garment workers as part of a fundraiser to raise finances for those people who have been directly affected by Rana Plaza. Due to our strong connection with War On Want and the NGWF we were able to set up a Just Giving page where any money that was raised would go to War On Want who would then pass it on the NGWF who then would give it their members who were in or have been directly affected by Rana Plaza. Every penny goes to help garment workers themselves such Razia Begum who lost two daughters and a son in law. Whilst in Savar we were able to talk to some of the people who had received some of the money that was donated. It does make a difference, especially at a time when the brands are still debating whether or not to put to a fund to help the victims.

The Fableists > Are you still accepting donations for the charity auction and event? If so, how can companies get involved?

Rainbow Collective > Yes we are still accepting donations and compaines can get involved by emailing raisingforrana@inbox.com or visit www.raisingforrana.com.

The Fableists > How can the public bid on the items available (including some snappy clothes from The Fableists!) and when will the auction end?

Rainbow Collective > Its very easy to bid on the items. Just visit Raising For Rana website where there is a charity auction link and there are many many items to bid on. The auction will be open till 12pm on the 25th April.

The Fableists > Your goal is to create resource material so that campaigners and educators can access facts, figures as well as images and footage. Tell us why you choose to make all this available for free.

Rainbow Collective > Everything is for free because we want as many people and organisations to watch it and use the resource site. We have great partners including OpenVizor who funded this so we did not see a need to charge anyone to use the resource. The decision to make the film and resource site available for free and for the whole project to be non-profit was made very early. The documentary ‘Tears In The Fabric’ will also be available in multiple languages on its release and again the reason for this is so that it can get the widest audience possible.

Links
www.rainbowcollective.co.uk
www.raisingforrana.com
www.justgiving.com/NGWF

Get involved by bidding on items in the charity auction, or making a donation, as all proceeds will go directly to those affected by the Rana Plaza disaster. Visit the film’s page via the Raising for Rana site to find out more about the project.

 

The Fableists x

A fabulous Fableist-y post from our friends at Maison Bentley Style today. Terrific photos of kids being kids in our clothes – just what we like to see!

Maison Bentley Style

(Bella wearing Baseball shirt £20)

The driving force behind The Fableist’s children’s label has nothing to do with fashion, it has nothing to do with faddy designs or even seasonal clothes.  The name comes from the amalgamation of two words – ‘fables’ – for the telling of stories and most importantly, where each piece of clothing comes from, and ‘activist’ – what it’s going to take to change this industry around.   The simple focus of the brand is the wish to do the best for our children and that this should never involve child labour or harmful chemicals.

(Charlie wearing Recycle tee £16)

But that doesn’t mean the fashion doesn’t exist..

Look through the Collection and you’ll find their Chore coat..utilitarian to a seam – can be worn by either boys or girls..timeless, versatile and a wardrobe staple winter or summer.

(Bella wearing Charlie’s Breton tee! £20)

Or…

View original post 142 more words

The Fableists in the Sunday Times Style Magazine

 

Did you pick up the Sunday Times yesterday? (16th March 2014)

If you did, you would have seen The Fableists featured in the Update section on ‘Living’ at the front of the Style Magazine.

 

We’re feeling very pleased with ourselves…

…indeed!

 

Some Recent Press for The Fableists

It’s not been a bad 24 hours for press!

Please click the image to go to the story

First we were included in EcoSalon, The Conscious Culture and Fashion magazine based out of Los Angeles. We feel as though writer Kelly Aaron has captured the essence of The Fableists so well and we are thoroughly delighted by her write up.

Today we’ve also been included in the April ‘Eco’ edition of baby&me Magazine, a monthly magazine aimed at young families in the London area.

You can see the story online here. Or you can download the entire digital edition of the issue, which we highly recommend for great features on all things ‘green’ and kids.

To download the issue, visit this link.

Stay tuned because we’ve got more exciting coverage of The Fableist coming up very soon! Get your orders in quickly at our web site before this range sells out!

Take Part in the Six Items Challenge from Labour Behind the Label

Detox Your Wardrobe with A Fashion Fast to Oppose Fast Fashion

The Six Items Challenge is a campaign by Labour Behind the Label that challenges participants to choose just six articles of clothing and wear these only for six weeks. The Fableists are taking part, so please join us!

The official challenge runs from 5 March to 17 April 2014 but Labour Behind the Label encourages participation at any time of year.

There are a few exceptions that are permitted. Your ‘6 items’ do not include any underwear, socks, shoes, accessories, performance or work-out clothes (cycling gear etc.), work uniforms (including suit, shirt, tie, or whatever is required by your employer), or pyjamas. If the season and climate require it, you can also pick one coat as an extra item. Work uniforms may also include a suit/white shirt etc., if this is required by your employer.

You can have fun with it and are encouraged to accessorise and mix and match as much as possible. The goal is to raise awareness of the dangers of fast fashion and shift the way that you think about your wardrobe and buying clothes.

What is ‘fast fashion’?

According to Labour Behind the Label:
Fast Fashion is a relatively new phenomenon where brands change their stock every 4 to 6 weeks to keep up with the very latest fashion trends, at a price which makes the clothes cheap and disposable.

Fast Fashion is the drive to increase profits and get products into our high street shops faster and faster, to satisfy an insatiable desire for new trends; the drive to sell more, consume more, make more, waste more. This drive has disastrous consequences for the people who make our clothes.

The Six Items Challenge is designed to challenge our increasing reliance on Fast Fashion.

Further to our Facebook posts from yesterday, Matt Cooper from The Fableists is leading the way and taking part as our team representative! As we’re starting almost a week late, Matt has pledged to take his challenge up until April 24th, the one year anniversary of the Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh.

We will post the 6 items that Matt has chosen on our blog over the coming days, as well as updates on how it’s going. How can you get involved?

• Sign up to participate in the challenge yourself at this link. Do not be afraid of failure. The end goal of this campaign is to raise awareness of issues that face garment workers as well as funds. It is also to change your reliance on fast fashion, so any shift in mentality where this is concerned is a win.
• Sponsor Matt in his efforts by visiting our fundraising page here. Every little helps, so please dig deep!
• Share our posts on FB, WordPress, twitter and Pinterest about the challenge to help spread the word about this great campaign.
• Visit Labour Behind the Label to find out more.

Where do the Funds Raised Go?

They go towards fighting for garment workers’ rights. The following is from Labour Behind the Label:
Garment workers don’t have the unlimited choices we have. £3, not much is it? The price of a sandwich, a copy of a fashion magazine or a cheap t-shirt in some of the UK’s leading high street stores. But this amount is double what many workers can earn in a day making clothes for the UK market.

The reality is that UK brands want more and more from their suppliers while giving less and less. Long hours, daily overtime, poverty wages and unstable job contracts all hamper basic needs such as buying food, healthcare, education and accommodation.

This is the norm for garment workers across the globe.

At Labour Behind the Label we don’t advocate boycotting brands as this often has a negative impact on workers, but we want consumption needs to slow down, the pressure on workers and the constant precariousness of jobs and wage levels needs to be addressed.

By exploring this issue through the Six Items Challenge and fundraising for Labour Behind the Label, you can play a vital part in contributing to the work we do in supporting real people in their struggle for better rights and working conditions.

Here is an idea of what your sponsorship can do:

£5 can help distribute materials to local groups for awareness raising meetings and events.
£10 can go towards conducting vital research into working conditions in factories around the world.
£20 can help respond to Urgent Appeals for intervention on behalf of workers in need.
£200 can cover the cost of meeting and lobbying companies and government bodies to legislate for better protection for supply chain workers.
£300 can print education resources to ensure schools and universities have access to global workers’ rights issues.
£500 can bring a garment worker to the UK to speak about their experiences and help lobby for change.

Get in involved and get in touch to tell us about what you are doing.

The Fableists

The Panda Made me do it! Earth Hour March 29th 8:30 pm – WORLDWIDE

Where will you be on March 29th at 8:30 pm? We hope that wherever you are, it will be in the dark!

Hundreds of millions of people all over the world come together for Earth Hour and its symbolic ‘lights out’ display. The power of Earth Hour is that it proves that there are hundreds of millions of people who care about the planet and who are willing to join to celebrate our Earth and renew their commitment to preserving it.

Whether you choose to celebrate this magic hour outside in the dark, or huddled indoors by candlelight, think about how easy it is to make this small commitment once a year and maybe we can all add our own weekly Earth Hour in to our schedules.

Earth Hour is a WWF endeavour. According to them, in the UK alone we are using three times our fair share of the planet’s natural resources. All on one tiny little island.

Earth Hour starts in Samoa and finishes in the Cook Islands. So get out the globe, atlas or map and show your kids how this celebration will progress across the planet. If ever there was a reason to keep your kids up late on a Saturday night, then this is it. This kind of event speaks to kids. There is the excitement of being in the dark and being up late but they are also naturally inclined to do the right thing. Kids get taking care of the Earth much better than their parents.

Your kids will be part of a huge community from all over the world. 154 countries are taking part, with over 7,000 cities pledging to turn off the lights. After Earth Hour 2013, over 80% of those surveyed in the UK said they would do something else to help protect the environment after participating in Earth Hour. That is an amazing statistic.

Sign up to take part in Earth Hour here and be sure to join the interactive map. There are loads of other ways that you can get involved as well. Then start planning what you will do at 8:30 on 29th March. The WWF has lots of great suggestions for things to do for Earth Hour. Perhaps you’ll celebrate on your own at home, or with your family, or maybe you’ll take Earth Hour to the streets. Perhaps you can get your local community involved with a candlelit walk around the area at that time. Maybe you’ll be more creative. Please share with us what you get up to! Whatever you do, encourage your friends, family and neighbours to switch off their lights and join you.

Make Earth Hour the party of the year!

Credit: WWF