Astana joined Earth Hour campaign

More than 300 buildings in Astana including Baiterek, the Palace of Peace and Reconciliation, Congress Hall, the Palace of Independence and Astana Opera turned off external lighting from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. local time. Large sports facilities like Kazakhstan, Astana Arena stadium, Alau Ice Rink Palace, Barys Arena joined the campaign too. M.Gorkiy State Academic Russian Drama Theatre, Astana Circus, K.Kuanyshbayev Kazakh Drama Theatre, Zhastar Palace, Puppet Theater and Naz Dance Theater also switched off external illumination in sign of support.
Earth Hour is a worldwide movement initiated by the World Wildlife Fund which is actively backed by hundreds of countries all over the world. The campaign symbolizes careful attitude to nature and to limited resources of our planet. 172 countries and more than 2 billion people participated in the last year action.
This year, Kazakhstan joined the Earth Hour campaign under the aegis of the National Day of Tree Planting movement which will be held from April 16 through May 16. 80 towns of the country backed the action.

According to www.astana.gov.kz, this is not the first time, when Astana joins the Earth Hour campaign.