REPUBLIC OF SERBIA
EARTH HOUR 2009
The Earth Hour 2009 initiative of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) calls on individuals, companies and government institutions to turn off their lights for one hour on Saturday, 29th of March 2009, at 20:30 and give their support in the fight against climate change. More than 74 cities in 62 countries worldwide are actively participating this year, including the Serbian cities Belgrade and Novi Sad.
The main goal of this year's Earth Hour is to rally support of one billion people in more than a thousand cities worldwide, and thus show great solidarity and a strong visual effect which will put pressure on the leading world politicians during the next Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December.
Earth Hour started in 2007 in Sydney, as a campaign for raising public awareness on climate change. Since then the event had become a global sustainability movement with up to 50 million people across 35 countries participating. Some of the cities participating in this year's Earth Hour are: Los Angeles, Las Vegas, London, Hong Kong, Sydney, Rome, Manila, Solo, Cape Town, Warsaw, Lisbon, Singapore, Istanbul, Mexico City, Toronto, Dubai and Copenhagen.
The Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning of The Republic of Serbia has given it's official support to the Earth Hour 2009 initiative. Therefore, on Saturday, 28th March at 20:30, lights will be dimmed or completely switched off on city landmarks, monuments and buildings as a sign of support to the action of climate change mitigation.
Some of the most recognizable landmarks on the planet will dim the lights in support of decisive action on climate change, including the England's National Football Museum, the Burj Al Arab in Dubai, CN Tower in Toronto, Auckland's Sky Tower in New Zealand, the Sydney Opera House in Australia, the iconic Table Mountain in Cape Town and the Quirinale in Rome.