Hundreds of offices and eating and drinking places in HCM City will switch off lights for an hour tonight in support of the Earth Hour Campaign.— Photo phunuonline

HCM CITY (VNS)— Hundreds of offices and eating and drinking places in HCM City will switch off lights for an hour tonight in support of the Earth Hour Campaign.

Hotel Equatorial, InterContinental Asiana Saigon, and InterContinental Asiana Saigon Residences will all turn their lights off at 8.30pm and use candles instead.

The Caravelle Hotel will turn off non-essential lights in its lobby, corridors, and Reflections and Nineteen restaurants. The hotel will put a notice in all rooms and a banner outside inviting guests to participate in Earth Hour.

A "Green dance step" flashmob will be held from 5pm to 10pm today at the Youth Cultural House and models of a Viet Nam map and an eco-school made of empty milk cartons will be put up for display.

There will be a booth where empty plastic boxes and milk cartons will be exchanged for energy-efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs.

This year's campaign has seen volunteers go from house to house to collect inorganic and recyclable rubbish for the HCM City Environment Company, which will process them.

Earth Hour was first organised by the World Wild Fund for Nature in Australia in 2007 for action to prevent climate change, and has since grown to become the world's largest voluntary action for the planet, uniting organisations and individuals on seven continents and in more than 7,000 cities.

Viet Nam joined in 2009, with thousands of participants in Ha Noi, Hue, and HCM City taking part. — VNS