Earth Hour is now in its fourth year and is looking for producers, cooks, chefs, restaurants, hotels and other hospitality venues to not only switch off their lights for one hour, but also to consider what else they can do for the environment.

In previous years, Earth Hour has focused mainly on encouraging people around the world to turn as many lights off as possible for one hour. This year, the event will be held at 8.30pm on 27 March and according to Jonathon Larkin from World Wildlife Fund (WWF), it will be a chance for hospitality workers to really think about how sustainable they are, and hopefully make some improvements.

"We're encouraging people to take the time to think about their broader impact on the environment and think about something they can do to reduce that, so switch off your lights for an hour, but if you're in the hospitality industry have you thought about switching to green power? Have you looked at your waste? Are you recycling everything that you could  be? Could you source more local, seasonal produce?" he said.

According to Larkin, there are hundreds of restaurants, clubs, pubs and hotels involved in this year's Earth Hour including the Merivale chain of restaurants in Sydney, which will be hosting candle-lit dinners as well as Four Seasons hotels and the Accor group.

"They're all very happy to help which is great because quite often they've got really prominent positions throughout the city so it's important that they go dark for the hour," he said.

He also believes that it's important for the hospitality industry to get involved in Earth Hour because it has a significant influence on the rest of the community. "What the hospitality industry can do that not a lot of others can is to be a trend setter. If you're a really big, multinational organisation you usually have to move pretty slowly and change takes a long time. If you're in the hospitality industry you might decide that the way to go is to only use sustainably sourced, local, seasonal produce. Now if all restaurants start doing that then it filters down to the community," he said.

Some of the world's most iconic landmarks will also be taking part in this year's Earth Hour, including the Golden Gate Bridge, Taipei 101, the London Eye and Table Mountain.

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