People in different cities and provinces throughout Vietnam turned off power for an hour on Saturday night and partook in an array of activities in observance of the global Earth Hour 2015 campaign.

Many cities and provinces simultaneously organized a clutch of environmental protection activities, with the lights-off event held later the same night being the dominant focus.

At 8:30 pm sharp on Saturday, all the lights at the Youth Culture House in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City as well as at coffee shops, hotels, and restaurants nearby went off.

The culture house was the main venue for the city’s Earth Hour 2015 activities.

Other highlights included the final round of a quiz contest on environmental protection and energy saving and stalls offering handicraft mementoes to raise funds for charity.

Delegates are seen performing a ritual to switch off lights during the Earth Hour 2015 campaign in Ho Chi Minh City on March 28, 2015. Photo: Tuoi Tre

A similar event organized last night in the southern province of Dong Nai was attended by nearly 3,000 young people, who passed on messages about climate change and helped raise locals’ awareness of cherishing water and forest resources and energy conservation. 

Earlier the same day, many young people cycled around the provincial capital of Bien Hoa, some 30 kilometers from Ho Chi Minh City, handing out leaflets on environmental protection, collecting garbage, and giving away environmentally-friendly bags.

Students in Bien Hoa City, located in Dong Nai Province, are pictured during a bike ride for environmental protection purposes on March 28, 2015. Photo: Tuoi Tre

In a similar vein, over 100 volunteers showed up at many intersections in Thu Dau Mot City, the capital of southern Binh Duong Province, and the province’s Thuan An District, raising environment-themed cartoons and talking locals into turning off their bike engines for 20 seconds while waiting at the stoplights. Shows featuring fashion items made from recycled materials and songs about environmental protection, as well as an exchange between locals and environmental ambassadors also took place the same night.

Volunteers are shown raising banners in support of the global Earth Hour 2015 campaign in Thu Dau Mot City, the capital of southern Binh Duong Province. Photo: Tuoi Tre

A similar recycled material fashion and music show was staged at Song Hau Park in the southern city of Can Tho last night.

Like in other cities and provinces, all the lights at the park went off at 8:30 pm sharp and were replaced with sparkling Led lights brought over by more than 2,000 volunteers.

The young had joined a parade on bicycles throughout the city earlier the same day.

Meanwhile, around 200 students and staffers from major hotels in Nha Trang City, the capital of the south-central province of Khanh Hoa, scavenged garbage along the three-kilometer coast on Saturday afternoon.

They also persuaded tourists to put litter into garbage bins before joining the lights-off event, during which several hotels along Tran Phu Street – one of the city’s major streets – turned off their decorative lights and air-conditioners and used the dim light from candles instead.

Over 100 students also took part in a captivating flashmob dance on 2-4 Square.

Young volunteers collect garbage on a Nha Trang beach in the south-central province of Khanh Hoa on March 28, 2015. Photo: Tuoi Tre

According to Tran Thanh Hai, vice director of Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province’s Electricity Co., over 100 households switched off electricity and saved an estimated 60 million kWh.

Similarly, on Phu Quoc Island, located off the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang, a wide range of green activities were also held, including a painting contest and a bicycle parade.

The activities were meant to enhance the awareness of islanders and tourists of cherishing sea resources and safeguarding Vietnam’s sovereignty over its seas and islands.

This is the seventh year that the Southeast Asian country has conducted activities in support of the global Earth Hour campaign.

The country saved around 401MW during the 2013 Earth Hour and 431MW during the 2014 event.

The Earth Hour campaign started as a lights-off event in Sydney, Australia in 2007.

Since then it has grown to engage more than 162 countries and territories worldwide, according to its website.

The campaign includes a simple yet environmentally-significant action: switching off lights for one hour on the last Saturday of March every year.

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