This year's Earth Hour will be observed on 28 March. The Minsk City Committee of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection posted a message on its website, calling on Minsk residents to join the campaign and switch off their lights for an hour from 20:30 till 21:30, BelTA has learned.

Earth Hour is a worldwide movement organized by the World Wide Fund for Nature. The organizers encourage people to turn off their lights and electric devices for an hour as a symbol of commitment to the planet's future. Decorative lights of famous buildings and memorials also go out. Belarus will join the movement for the 12th time. The aim of the movement is not to save electricity, but to promote responsible attitude towards the environment. This is why the Belarusian Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Ministry and the Minsk City Hall annually join the movement.

Last year, Earth Hour brought together more than two billion people in 188 countries, including Belarus. Minsk alone turned off the decorative lights of the National Library, the National Academic Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theater, the Belarusian State Philharmonic, the National Art Museum, the Belarusian State Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War, the TSUM department store, the Stolitsa shopping mall, the Belarus Hotel, and other buildings. Street lights, aircraft navigation lights, and traffic lights are not put out for safety reasons.

A temporary shutdown of lights and electric devices may prompt people to reconsider their habits and teach them how to save electricity, heat, and water. Involvement in the movement may help decide to start recycling paper and other materials in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions which are the main cause of the current climate change.