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Earth Hour 2011: It’s time to go beyond the hour

Earth Hour 2011: It's time to go beyond the hour

At 8:30 PM on Saturday 26th March 2011, lights will switch off around the globe for Earth Hour and people will commit to actions that go beyond the hour. With Earth Hour almost upon us, our thoughts are with the people of Japan during this incredibly challenging and sad time for their country.

Earth Hour is a global event organized by WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature, also known as World Wildlife Fund) and is held on the last Saturday of March annually, asking households and businesses to turn off their non-essential lights and other electrical appliances for one hour to raise awareness towards the need to take action on climate change.

Nearly 133 countries around the world will join Vietnam in turning off the lights for one hour on the evening of March 26 to show their commitment to protecting the Earth. For this year’s Earth Hour people are urged to make an effort in their daily activities to ensure the sustainability of the planet.

30 Vietnamese provinces and cities will take part in the campaign. Supermarkets in Ho Chi Minh City have launched programmes to mark the event and BigC stores across the country will collect used batteries between 9.am and 18.pm on March 26.
The same day, the Co.opMart will switch off its signage and lighting systems from 8.30-9.30.pm. It will also encourage consumers to use the “green” bags it will give as promotional gifts to them. In Vietnam, electricity demand fell 500,000 kWh during Earth Hour 2010, which was three times larger than the first time the country joined the event in 2009.

30 tỉnh thành tham gia Giờ Trái đất tại Việt Nam gồm: Lạng Sơn, Lào Cai, Thái Nguyên, Quảng Ninh, Hải Phòng, Hà Nội, Thanh Hóa, Nghệ An, Thừa Thiên Huế, Quảng Nam, Đà Nẵng, Quảng Ngãi, Bình Định, Khánh Hòa, Bình Thuận, Đắc Lắc, Bình Dương, Đồng Nai, TP Hồ Chí Minh, Cần Thơ, Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu, An Giang, Bến Tre, Trà Vinh, Kiên Giang, Bạc Liêu, Cà Mau, Hà Tĩnh, Đà Lạt và Hội An.