Change yourself, not the planet. Environmentalists call on Tatarstanpeople to join the action “Earth Hour – 2017”

The world’s largest environmental action this year will be held on March 25 from 20:30 to 21:30. The theme of “Earth Hour – 2017”is the responsible human attitude to nature. It’s about how people change everything around them - land, air, water, forests, and the consequences of such impact for humanity. The slogan of the action is “Change yourself, not the planet”. The action is held annually, on the last Saturday of March at the initiative of the World Wildlife Fund, and symbolizes the solidarity of the inhabitants of various states in solving energy and resource saving problems, improving the ecological situation on a global scale. To support the Earth Hour, bike ridesare traditionally held in many cities.

Heads of all bodies, public authorities of the Republic of Tatarstan, enterprises and organizations, as well as the people of the republic are invited to join the action, and for one hour to turn off architectural and decorative lighting of buildings, structures, residential buildings, electrical devices not related to ensuring the public safety, as well as take other measures aimed at reducing electricity consumption.

In 2016, 172 countries and more than 2 billion people took part in the action. In Russia, the action was supported by 20 million people. In Kazan, for the time of the action, the architectural and artistic highlighting of the Kazan Kremlin Museum-Reserve, the building of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Tatarstan, the State Council of the Republic of Tajikistan, the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Tatarstan, the Grand Concert Hall named after SalikhSaidashev, and the IT Park were turned off. The action was also supported by the City Hall of Kazan which turned off illumination of administrative edifices of districts and the Kazan Town Hall. According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), an environmental organization, Kazan was one of the most active cities in Russia, taking part in the Earth Hour 2016.

Earth Hour is an international environmental action initiated by WWF in 2007, calling on people around the world to turn off lights and household appliances for one hour as a sign of unindifference to the future of the planet. The official website of the action is 60.wwf.ru.

Press Service of MENR of RT