On March 24 Bulgaria will join again the Earth Hour initiative of the international environmental organization WWF. It started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia as a symbolic lights out event. This event saw many homes and businesses turn their light off for one hour to make their stand against climate change. Today, Earth Hour is marked in over 180 countries

This year we are to turn the lights off and stand in darkness for one hour during the Earth Hour – between 8.30 pm and 9.30 pm on March 24, which is a symbolic expression for saving energy resources and rational consumption, Vladimir Ivanov from WWF told Radio Bulgaria.

The Earth Hour campaign in Bulgaria started from Sofia and later dozens of municipalities joined the event. The Sofia city garden will host again the traditional Earth Hour happening. The organizers promise a lot of surprises, a fire show and plenty of music. This event started to live its own life as the years went by and now we do not have to make any special efforts to organize it. People organize themselves and come up with various initiatives dedicated to Earth Hour. We don’t even know all events held on the occasion of e Earth Hour, Vladimir Ivanov says with enthusiasm.

As always, the campaign has its motto. This year the motto of the Earth Hour initiative is named Connect2Nature, Vladimir Ivanov went on to say. WWF always tries to come up with interesting slogans. The organization is a grouping of individuals who connect on the Internet. That is why we are using the word Connect in the logo of the Earth Hour this year.

The Earth Hour initiative is a good occasion to talk about the efforts of the environmentalists linked with environmental protection. In Colombia for instance people will call on the state authorities to guarantee zero logging and deforestation until 2020. The nationals of French Polynesia are expected to undertake actions aimed at protecting 5 million square kilometers of the sea. Marine areas are affected a lot by industrial fishing and heavy pollution. That is why we must take the necessary measures in this field. In Guatemala people will make efforts to preserve inland waters. Europe and the European Commission will also deal very seriously with this important topic in 2018 and WWF will lead a campaign aimed at preserving inland waters. The campaign will start in June. In Nepal our organization will launch a campaign for clean renewable and accessible energy.

At the end of the day it is not enough to turn the lights off for one hour to protect nature and its biodiversity. We must constantly talk about the benefits of nature, Vladimir Ivanov contends.

Editor: Elena Karkalanova

English version: Kostadin Atanasov