The citizens of Moldova are urged to turn out their lights for Earth Hour on Saturday, March 19, at 8:30. The Ministry of Environment calls on the organizations, companies and public institutions of the country to switch off the internal and external lights on this occasion, IPN reports, quoting a press release of the Ministry.

This year Earth Hour is organized in Moldova for the eighth consecutive time. The event is a global grassroots initiative which takes place annually at the end of March. For an hour, lights in buildings are switched off as participants turn off all their non-essential electricity to show their commitment to protect their planet and to raise an awareness of climate change.

On this occasion, a number of events will be staged on the pedestrian street Eugen Doga in Chisinau. The Municipal Theater “Guguta” will put on a puppet play. There will be presented a led show, a panpipe recital by Stegan Negura and a fragment of nonverbal theater. An asphalt drawing contest will take place near the pedestrian area, on Grigore Vieru Blvd.

After a countdown at 20:25pm, there will be held a flames show and a concert that will last for an hour. A telescope for astronomic observations will be installed in front of the Ministry of the Environment.

Earth Hour is a worldwide grassroots movement uniting people to protect the planet, and is organised by WWF. Engaging a massive mainstream community on a broad range of environmental issues, Earth Hour 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, and the one-hour event continues to remain the key driver of the now larger movement.