In 90 cities and towns of Kazakhstan, local government agencies and individuals actively participated in the "Earth Hour" activity on Saturday, Xinhua reported.
In Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, the city's famous landmark Monument "Astana-Baiterek" turned off its gorgeous lighting lanterns on time at 8:30 p.m. local time. In addition, other landmarks in Astana such as the Presidential Palace, the Supreme Court Building, the Independence Palace, the "Nur-Astana" Central Mosque and the Entertaining Center "Duman" all turned off the lights at the same time.
The lights of the tallest building in Almaty, the largest city of Kazakhstan -- 372 meter-height television tower located in Kok Tobe Mountain Park -- were turned off on time in heavy snow. Meanwhile, the building of Almaty City Administration in the center of the city and other important buildings went dark for the Earth Hour.
In Almaty, many residents also voluntarily joined the "Earth Hour" activity. At engineer Vladimir Isakov's home, when the clock pointed at 8:30 p.m., his wife turned off all lights. The family then lighted some candles, and the host played guitar in the living room. His son, Misha Isakov, a college student, told Xinhua that the "Earth Hour" was not to save how much kwh of electricity, but to remind people that the world should cherish energy and protect environment.
It was reported that other important cities of Kazakhstan, such as Uralskaya, Atyrau, Aktau, Aktobe, Petropavlovsk, Aksu, Chaimey, Karaganda, Shymkent, and Taraz, also went in for the "Earth Hour" activity.
The "Earth Hour," initiated by the World Wild Fund for Nature ( WWF) in 2007, calls on families and buildings to turn off the lights for one hour on the last Saturday night of March.