Home, released today, 5 June 2009, on World Environment Day is a compelling, call-for-change film illustrating what we are doing to our planet, animals, ourselves and fellow human beings. It shows breathtaking scenes, all aerial shots, from more than 50 countries.

Director Yann Arthus-Bertrand says: “The film has a very clear message. We have a greater impact on the Earth than it can bear. We over-consume and are depleting the Earth’s resources. From the air, it’s easy to see the Earth’s wounds. So, Home simply sets out our current situation, while saying that a solution exists.”

Home is 1 hour and 33 minutes long, but every second is worth the attention of even the busiest woman or man on this planet.

See for yourself:

If you have problems viewing the above film, you can watch it on YouTube.

If you happen to be in Paris today, you can also watch the movie at a free, digital screening beneath the Eiffel Tower at 22:00.

You can read all about the Home film on its web site, discuss the movie on GoodPlanet.org and see more of Yann Arthus-Bertrand amazing images on his web site.

Suspected cases have already been reported from various corners of the world, so for travellers it is not just a matter of staying away from a particular country or area.

Thankfully, the World Health Organization (WHO) has produced a Swine Influenza Frequently Asked Questions document, which covers questions regarding:

• Vaccine and drugs
• how to protect yourself from getting swine influenza
• what to do if you think, you may have swine influenza

According to their latest statement of 26 April 2009, WHO is not currently recommending any travel restrictions. This of course can change at any stage, and I would highly recommend all travellers to keep themselves informed via WHO’s Disease Outbreak News page and WHO’s Swine Influenza page.

I’ll be going on a little road trip through a number of European countries in May, and while I don’t see any reason to change my plans at the moment, I’ll most definitely be keeping an eye on the situation via WHO’s web site and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office’s travel advice.

External links

• WHO’s Swine Influenza Frequently Asked Questions (PDF)
• WHO’s Disease Outbreak News page
• WHO’s Swine Influenza page
• The Foreign & Commonwealth Office’s travel advice

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If you haven’t signed up yet, don’t panic,  you can still register your support on the Earth Hour web site.

If you’re travelling that day, maybe you can help spread the word by asking your fellow travellers to join in too or ask the hotel you’re staying at to join in.

It is all symbolic of course, but if it can serve as a reminder to us all, then why not join in?

This year’s Earth Hour will take place on 28 March at 20:30 and you can take part by switching off your non-essential lights for one hour.

The aim of Earth Hour is to get people to take action on climate change.

The annual event was launched in 2007 by WWF-Australia and the citizens of Sydney, who on 31 March 2007 were asked to switch their lights off for one hour. 2.2 million people participated and the symbolic action attracted global attention.

In 2008 the event went global with up to “50 million people across 35 countries participating”, (source: http://www.earthhour.org/about).

This year the organisers are aiming even higher. The aim of Earth Hour 2009 is to reach one billion people worldwide.

So if you’d like to tell the world that you care about climate change, please be one of those one billion people who switch their lights off on 28 March 2009 at 20:30.
Sign up at www.earthhour.org