DUSHANBE, March 16, 2015, Asia-Plus – This year, Earth Hour will be marked on March 28, from 8:30 to 9:30 pm during participants’ local time.

Earth Hour is a worldwide movement for the planet organized by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).  The event is held worldwide annually encouraging individuals, communities, households and businesses to turn off their non-essential lights for one hour, from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. on the last Saturday in March, as a symbol for their commitment to the planet.

It was famously started as a lights-off event in Sydney, Australia in 2007.  Since then it has grown to engage more than 7000 cities and towns worldwide. Today, Earth Hour engages a massive mainstream community on a broad range of environmental issues. The one-hour event continues to remain the key driver of the now larger movement.

The United Nations will also participate in the event.  According to UN Radio, the United Nations will turn off the lights for one hour at its Headquarters in New York and other facilities around the world on March 28 in observance of “Earth Hour,” an annual global event to raise awareness on the need to take action on climate change through more sustainable energy consumption.

For the first time, the United Nations participated in the event in 2009.