Translation of Avicenna’s post (RUS).

On 27 March, people around the world gathered to celebrate Earth Hour. The event started at 20.30 and consisted of participants turning off all their electric appliances. According to the campaign’s official website, over a billion people from over 100 countries took part this year.

They gathered in city squares to celebrate and to see some of their famous monuments unlit: the forbidden city in Beijing, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, the statue of Jesus Christ in Rio de Janeiro, the famous suspension bridge across the Bosphorus in Istanbul, the India Gate in Delhi.

The only participant nations from Central Asia were Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. According to the WWF (World Wildlife Fund), 60 Kazakh cities were involved, including Astana, Aktau, Uralsk, Karaganda, Shykment, Pavlodar, Aktobe, Atyrau and Ust-Kamenogorsk. The “Rukhniiat” green party told neweurasia that between 20.30 and 21.30 the lights of Baiterek, the symbol of the capital, were off. Other buildings left without light during this time were Akorda (the president’s residence), the Supreme Court, the Palace of Independence, the square around the Kazak Eli monument, the Nur-Astana Islamic center, the Duman entertainment complex, and a hundred others.

Akhmetzhan Esimov, the akim of Almaty, “gave orders to turn off lights on the TV tower in Kok-Tube, the town hall and other municipal objects.”

According to the official Earth Hour website, other former Soviet nations that joined the campaign included Russia, Georgia, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Armenia, the Ukraine and Georgia.

Unfortunately, governments in Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan decided not to officially recognize Earth Hour. However, a number of exceptions were made: without trying to attract significant attention, students and diplomats turned off their electricity for an hour. Was it really so difficult for the powers that be to overcome their economic interests during the nighttime and show solidarity with the whole world? Or, at least, not to resist the campaign? In Uzbekistan, the government could have easily ordered the artificially-created Ecological Party and the Government Committee for the Protection of Nature to do something. Instead, they remained silent.

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