The organising board has announced that the 2012 Earth Hour will be held in Vietnam from 8.30 pm - 9.30 pm on March 31 with slogan “I will if you will”. The board, along with WWF Vietnam expressed their hope that this year's campaign would have a large effect in terms of educating the public and encouraging people to save electricity by turning of their lights and electrical appliances. Not only does it call on people to save energy on the occasion, but to be more environmentally aware by regularly using electricity-saving bulbs, growing more trees and recycling.

Youtube will support the campaign by featuring a video on which people can share their videos and comments on the question, "What are you willing to do to save our planet?" It is hoped that this will quickly spread to other social networking sites, such as Twitter, Facebook and Google+ to spread the word about the importance of conservation. This is the third year of Earth Hour in Vietnam, and it is now receiving wide acceptance and support from the Government, NGOs and the public.

VietNamNet Bridge – Miss Congeniality of the Miss Vietnam Universe--Duong Thuy Linh and 130 volunteers rode bicycles around Hanoi on the morning of March 11, to call for people’s support to the Earth Hour 2012.

Duong Thuy Linh is one of the Ambassadors of the Earth Hour 2012 program in Vietnam, besides singers Thanh Lam, Tung Duong and the Danish Ambassador to Vietnam John Nielsen. The official event of the Earth Hour 2012, organized by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, will be aired live on VTV1 channel of the national television system from 8pm of March 31, at the square in front of the Hanoi Opera House. The turn-of-the-light ceremony will take place form 8.30 to 9.30pm, with the message “I and You Take Action Together.” Volunteers pedaled around major roads of Hanoi, from the Vietnam Cheo Theatre on Kim Ma Street through Nguyen Thai Hoc – Phan Boi Chau – Hai Ba Trung – Hang Bai to Hoan Kiem Lake. They shouted “I and You Take Action Together” at every crossroad. After that they were divided into three groups. Earlier, the Ministry of Industry and Trade on February 28 launched the Earth Hour 2012 campaign in Vietnam.

The ministry called on all organizations, individuals, families and enterprises to join hands in dealing with climate change through practical concrete actions such as turning off unnecessary lights and electrical appliances during Earth Hour from 20h30 to 21h30 on March 31. Earth Hour 2012 will take place in 135 nations and territories with the expected participation of some 1.8 billion people. According to a national target program, the country strives to save 5-8 percent of energy consumption a year in the 2011-2015 period.

According to experts, if the annual saving rate is 3-5 percent, the local electricity industry will save US $50 million. Earth Hour 2012, the globe’s biggest annual environmental event, will take place on March 31 from 8:30p.m. to 9:30p.m. The global event, organized by the World Wide Fund for Nature, is held on the last Saturday of March annually. During the event, households and businesses are asked to turn off non-essential lights for one hour in a bid to raise the public awareness of the need to take action to climate change.

Source VietNamNet Bridge