More than 1,200 student volunteers rode bicycles and handed out fliers in Ho Chi Minh City on March 21, encouraging people to participate in the upcoming Earth Hour 2010 event.
Students gather at the Youth Culture Palace March 21 in Ho Chi Minh City before starting a bicycle parade to raise awareness about Earth Hour 2010. (Photo:SGGP)
On Saturday, March 27, individuals and organizations around the world will take part in Earth Hour by turning off their lights from 20:30 to 21:30.
To raise awareness for the event, the students visited residential areas, supermarkets and public parks throughout the city.
Before starting, the volunteers set a Vietnamese record for making a “Number 60” Earth Hour symbol at HCMC’s Youth Culture House.
Earth Hour started in Sydney in 2007 and has become a global movement in the last two years. In 2009, the campaign was joined by around one billion people from 4,013 cities in 88 countries.
In Vietnam, Earth Hour 2009 was held for the first time in six provinces and localities – Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Can Tho, Hoi An, Hue and Khanh Hoa City – gathering support from hundreds of individuals, businesses and organizations.
Also on March 21, nearly 500 union members from District 3’s Youth Union campaigned for markets in the area to switch to reusable bags and limit the use of plastic bags.
Nearly 20,000 reusable bags were distributed to the markets.
