Sri Lanka to participate in Earth Hour

Disna Mudalige

The Environment Ministry has decided to add Sri Lanka's contribution to 'Earth Hour 2012' by switching off lights for one hour on March 31 from 8.30 pm to 9.30pm.

The Earth Hour is a worldwide environmental event taking place each year since 2007 demanding that action be taken on climate change.

A ministry spokesman told the Daily News that since climate change which has a direct impact on an island nation like Sri Lanka, the Ministry would contribute to this event this year to voice the country's concern and commitment for a sustainable planet.

He also said that a circular requesting all government institutions throughout the country to switch off lights during this hour would be issued shortly by the Environment Ministry Secretary.

The public is requested to extend their voluntary support to this endeavour by switching off the lights. Millions of people in more than 5,200 cities and towns in 135 countries worldwide switched off their lights for the Earth Hour 2011. In 2007, 2.2 million individuals in Sydney, Australia spent one hour in the dark by switching off the lights to direct the attention of the world leaders on the necessity for the reduction of green house gas emissions marking the origin of Earth Hour.

Since then, it has become a global event scheduled for the last Saturday of every March.