Across North America next Saturday night they’ll be dimming lights and reducing power consumption at NHL games in honour of the 5th annual Earth Hour.

In Britain, they’ll cook up a banquet of Chinese food on TV, using energy-reducing methods designed by the nation’s top chefs.

In Norway, polar explorer Borge Ousland will ski across Oslo’s inner city pulling a sleigh more than twice his weight, as a tribute to 15,000 of his countrymen who’ve promised to park their cars for 3 days.

Orbiting Earth, astronaut Andre Kuipers will monitor, photograph and broadcast live commentary as the world’s lights flicker out during the annual global event taking place between 8.30 and 9.30 p.m. March 31.

And in Toronto, composer Andrew Huang will lead the first performance of his new Team Earth Hour anthem live at our own World Wildlife Federation-backed Earth Hour event in the Distillery District.

Performed by the flash-mob ensemble Choir! Choir! Choir!, with lyrics contributed online by Canadians, the “secret” anthem is the first crowd-sourced Earth Hour song.

The performance is one of thousands of events taking place around the world inspired by WWF’s 2012 “I Will If You Will” challenge, enabling people to tackle environmental challenges in unique ways, says Josh Laughren, Climate and Energy Director of WWF Canada.

“Canadians need to take a stand against climate change, and joining Team Earth Hour is a great place to start.

“Earth Hour started five years ago as a global movement with one goal in mind — creating a greener and cleaner world. We’re striving to achieve a world where everyone has access to fresh air, clean drinking water and natural resources, no matter where they live.”

For the first time an unprecedented number of NHL facilities have pledged their commitment to Earth Hour by switching-off non-essential lighting for one hour.

Twenty of the league’s thirty teams will be in action that night.

Participating facilities, including all of those hosting NHL games, as well as NHL headquarters in New York City, will scale-back energy used in their operations during Earth Hour.

“For the NHL, the success of this event is about more than turning the lights off for one hour,” Bernadette Mansur, SVP of NHL Green, said in a statement issued earlier this week.

“It’s about changing the way our sport approaches energy consumption. Our facilities are challenging themselves to operate more efficiently.”

NHL Green is a program established in 2010 to develop measurement tools and sustainability initiatives to reduce the energy, water and waste associated with professional hockey.

A spike in Canadian cities signing on to Earth Hour’s national program indicates increasing environmental awareness across the country, says WWF Canada’s communications specialist Weiwei Su.

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“Last year 427 cities joined the program, but this year we have 417 signed on with a week still to go.”

WWF Canada hopes to achieve its 500-city Earth Day goal by Saturday, she said.