The worldwide Earth Hour campaign will take place at 20.30 local time

Annually on the last Saturday of March millions of people all over the world turn lights off for an hour as the future of the Earth is of great importance to them. Earth Hour represents a symbol of environmental friendliness, care for scarce natural resources of the planet and public call-up for radical steps towards climate conservation.

     For the first time an appeal to hold the global Earth Hour campaign was made in March, 2007 by Sydney City on the initiative of WWF. At that time more than 50 million people from 270 cities and towns of 35 countries took part in the campaign. In 2009 the number of participating countries totaled to 88, the number of participating cities increased to more than 1.4 thousand. That year Russia officially joined the campaign, too.

     Earth Hour 2011 united 1.8 billion participants in 135 countries in all seven continents, including 11 million participants from Russia.

     More than 100 enterprises and organizations as well as the population of all cities and settlements without exception took part in the Earth Hour 2011 campaign in the Republic of Tatarstan.

     Lights were partially turned off in the streets and squares of Naberezhnye Chelny, Almetyevsk, Bugulma, Zainsk, Yelabuga, Leninogorsk, Mamadysh, Menzelinsk, Mendeleevsk, Nizhnekamsk, and Chistopol. Backlighting and interior lighting of the buildings of administrative authorities was turned off in every municipal and urban district. Schools, culture centers, sports complexes of the most cities in the republic joined the campaign as well.

     Naberezhnye Chelny, Almetyevsk, Bugulma and Nizhnekamsk took the most active part. As for the capital of Tatarstan, the illumination of the Mayor’s Office and Kazan City Hall was switched off along with the lights in the ministries, authorities, and the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate Department of the Republic of Tatarstan.

     Twenty megawatt of electrical energy was saved on account of the Earth Hour campaign.

     Earth Hour 2012 will be held on March 31 at 2030 (local time). In 2012, which was declared the Year of the Arctic by WWF, Earth Hour will also be regarded as arctic.

     The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Tatarstan dares everyone who cares about the destiny and the well-being of our Planet to join the Earth Hour campaign and make their contribution to conservation of energy resources and nature.