CONNECTING more than one billion people worldwide in 7,000 cities and towns, the Earth Hour initiative confronts climatic change and light pollution by encouraging all households, businesses and communities to switch off their non-essential lights for one hour on March 29.
Slovakia will participate in 2014 for the fifth time, as organised by the Section of Light Pollution Protection of the Slovak Astronomy Society at the Slovak Academy of Sciences and the Slovak Association of Astronomers.
On March 29, 2014, Banská Bystrica will host a candle march, organised by the city administration and the Strom Života civic association, accompanied by live drumming by the Babyluzaru ensemble. Participants will create the figure 60, symbolising 60 minutes of keeping the lights off. A fire show will follow, and public lights will be turned off between 20:30 and 21:30 in part of the city centre.
In Trnava, the lights that illuminate historical sites like St John the Baptist Cathedral, the city walls and Bernolák Gate will be turned off during the same hour, the TASR newswire wrote.
Košice’s industrial zone will go dark between Južná Trieda Street and Barčianska. Humenné and Snina will switch off the lights in their central zones and tourist sites.
The World Wildlife Fund, the environmental organisation that masterminded Earth Hour, wrote in a press release that “more than 300 cities and towns in central and eastern Europe will officially participate in Earth Hour 2014 on Saturday, 29 March between 20:30 and 21:30. The countries of the WWF’s Green Heart of Europe initiative, which spans across Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Serbia and even Ukraine, will unite millions of people around the world who switch off the lights for an hour, to raise awareness for the planet and the environment”.
