Environmental campaign Earth Hour.

Box office

This is the name of an environmental action that has already been carried out 10 times. To connect, you only had to turn off electricity and household appliances for 60 minutes. How did Russia support the action?

By 20.30 Moscow time, the switch - symbolic, of course - is switched to the "off" mode. This is how it begins.

You can’t even see it now, but we are on Vasilyevsky Spusk. This is the Spasskaya Tower. This is what Moscow looks like during Earth Hour. The lighting was turned off at almost two thousand buildings - Moscow City, Ostankino Tower, GUM, Cathedral of Christ the Savior.

The main building of Moscow State University, the Bolshoi Theater, Luzhniki, high-rise buildings on Novy Arbat. The first Earth Hour event was held in Russia in 2009. “Change yourself, not the planet” is the motto of this year. "Earth Hour" teaches: one simple movement - pressing the switch - saves the planet. And, of course, this year the action has special significance: 2017 in Russia is the Year of Ecology.

And here's what happened behind the scenes: in this room, by pressing a few buttons, the lights of the Kremlin were turned off. The official residence of the President takes part in the event for the fifth time in a row. As soon as the lights go out, the bike ride begins on Vasilyevsky Spusk.

Thirteen kilometers through the city center through the embankments, the finale is on Tverskaya. And candles are lit at St. Basil's Cathedral.

Not only the capital - the whole country. More than 150 cities - almost 22 million inhabitants - joined the action. The first is Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Exactly at 20:30, the lights of all administrative buildings were turned off. Residents of the city also joined the candlelight relay. Next - Vladivostok: there, the railway and sea stations, the TV tower.

Krasnoyarsk also joined in, where an acoustic concert took place - the artists performed without lighting or microphones. Spectators supported them by turning on flashlights and lighting up their mobile phones. And in the Irkutsk region they celebrated in a completely unusual way - they organized a run on the ice of Lake Baikal. They lit the way with flashlights. Thus, in the year of ecology in Russia, we decided to emphasize the importance of environmental protection, as well as the protection of Lake Baikal itself.

The last one, of course, is Kaliningrad. How much was saved during these 60 minutes is not important, say the organizers. The main thing is to draw attention to environmental problems. And it works.

“Earth Hour 2017” became the largest in 10 years of existence: 184 countries - almost the entire planet.

Box office

This is the name of an environmental action that has already been carried out 10 times. To connect, you only had to turn off electricity and household appliances for 60 minutes. How did Russia support the action?

By 20.30 Moscow time, the switch - symbolic, of course - is switched to the "off" mode. This is how it begins.

You can’t even see it now, but we are on Vasilyevsky Spusk. This is the Spasskaya Tower. This is what Moscow looks like during Earth Hour. The lighting was turned off at almost two thousand buildings - Moscow City, Ostankino Tower, GUM, Cathedral of Christ the Savior.

The main building of Moscow State University, the Bolshoi Theater, Luzhniki, high-rise buildings on Novy Arbat. The first Earth Hour event was held in Russia in 2009. “Change yourself, not the planet” is the motto of this year. "Earth Hour" teaches: one simple movement - pressing the switch - saves the planet. And, of course, this year the action has special significance: 2017 in Russia is the Year of Ecology.

And here's what happened behind the scenes: in this room, by pressing a few buttons, the lights of the Kremlin were turned off. The official residence of the President takes part in the event for the fifth time in a row. As soon as the lights go out, the bike ride begins on Vasilyevsky Spusk.

Thirteen kilometers through the city center through the embankments, the finale is on Tverskaya. And candles are lit at St. Basil's Cathedral.

Not only the capital - the whole country. More than 150 cities - almost 22 million inhabitants - joined the action. The first is Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Exactly at 20:30, the lights of all administrative buildings were turned off. Residents of the city also joined the candlelight relay. Next - Vladivostok: there, the railway and sea stations, the TV tower.

Krasnoyarsk also joined in, where an acoustic concert took place - the artists performed without lighting or microphones. Spectators supported them by turning on flashlights and lighting up their mobile phones. And in the Irkutsk region they celebrated in a completely unusual way - they organized a run on the ice of Lake Baikal. They lit the way with flashlights. Thus, in the year of ecology in Russia, we decided to emphasize the importance of environmental protection, as well as the protection of Lake Baikal itself.

The last one, of course, is Kaliningrad. How much was saved during these 60 minutes is not important, say the organizers. The main thing is to draw attention to environmental problems. And it works.

“Earth Hour 2017” became the largest in 10 years of existence: 184 countries - almost the entire planet.

Ecuadorian authorities have denied Julian Assange asylum at the London embassy. The founder of WikiLeaks was detained by British police, and this has already been called the biggest betrayal in the history of Ecuador. Why are they taking revenge on Assange and what awaits him?

Australian programmer and journalist Julian Assange became widely known after the website WikiLeaks, which he founded, published secret documents from the US State Department in 2010, as well as materials related to military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But it was quite difficult to find out who the police, supporting by the arms, were leading out of the building. Assange had grown a beard and looked nothing like the energetic man he had previously appeared in photographs.

According to Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno, Assange was denied asylum due to his repeated violations of international conventions.

He is expected to remain in custody at a central London police station until he appears at Westminster Magistrates' Court.

Why is the President of Ecuador accused of treason?

Former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa called the current government's decision the biggest betrayal in the country's history. “What he (Moreno - editor’s note) did is a crime that humanity will never forget,” Correa said.

London, on the contrary, thanked Moreno. The British Foreign Office believes that justice has triumphed. The representative of the Russian diplomatic department, Maria Zakharova, has a different opinion. “The hand of “democracy” is squeezing the throat of freedom,” she noted. The Kremlin expressed hope that the rights of the arrested person will be respected.

Ecuador sheltered Assange because the former president had left-of-center views, criticized U.S. policies and welcomed WikiLeaks' release of secret documents about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Even before the Internet activist needed asylum, he managed to personally meet Correa: he interviewed him for the Russia Today channel.

However, in 2017, the government in Ecuador changed, and the country set a course towards rapprochement with the United States. The new president called Assange “a stone in his shoe” and immediately made it clear that his stay on the embassy premises would not be prolonged.

According to Correa, the moment of truth came at the end of June last year, when US Vice President Michael Pence arrived in Ecuador for a visit. Then everything was decided. “You have no doubt: Lenin is simply a hypocrite. He has already agreed with the Americans on the fate of Assange. And now he is trying to make us swallow the pill, saying that Ecuador is supposedly continuing the dialogue,” Correa said in an interview with the Russia Today channel.

How Assange made new enemies

The day before his arrest, WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristin Hrafnsson said that Assange was under total surveillance. “WikiLeaks uncovered a large-scale spy operation against Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy,” he noted. According to him, cameras and voice recorders were placed around Assange, and the information received was transferred to the Donald Trump administration.

Hrafnsson clarified that Assange was going to be expelled from the embassy a week earlier. This did not happen only because WikiLeaks released this information. A high-ranking source told the portal about the plans of the Ecuadorian authorities, but the head of the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry, Jose Valencia, denied the rumors.

Assange's expulsion was preceded by the corruption scandal surrounding Moreno. In February, WikiLeaks published a package of INA Papers, which traced the operations of the offshore company INA Investment, founded by the brother of the Ecuadorian leader. Quito said it was a conspiracy between Assange and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and former Ecuadorian leader Rafael Correa to overthrow Moreno.

In early April, Moreno complained about Assange's behavior at Ecuador's London mission. “We must protect the life of Mr. Assange, but he has already crossed all boundaries in terms of violating the agreement that we came to with him,” the president said. “This does not mean that he cannot speak freely, but he cannot lie and hack.” ". At the same time, back in February last year it became known that Assange at the embassy was deprived of the opportunity to interact with the outside world, in particular, his Internet access was cut off.

Why Sweden stopped prosecuting Assange

At the end of last year, Western media, citing sources, reported that Assange would be charged in the United States. This was never officially confirmed, but it was because of Washington’s position that Assange had to take refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy six years ago.

In May 2017, Sweden stopped investigating two rape cases in which the portal’s founder was accused. Assange demanded compensation from the country's government for legal costs in the amount of 900 thousand euros.

Earlier, in 2015, Swedish prosecutors also dropped three charges against him due to the expiration of the statute of limitations.

Where did the investigation into the rape case lead?

Assange arrived in Sweden in the summer of 2010, hoping to receive protection from American authorities. But he was investigated for rape. In November 2010, a warrant was issued for his arrest in Stockholm, and Assange was put on the international wanted list. He was detained in London, but was soon released on bail of 240 thousand pounds.

In February 2011, a British court decided to extradite Assange to Sweden, after which a number of successful appeals followed for the WikiLeaks founder.

British authorities placed him under house arrest before deciding whether to extradite him to Sweden. Breaking his promise to the authorities, Assange asked for asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy, ​​which was granted to him. Since then, the UK has had its own claims against the WikiLeaks founder.

What awaits Assange now?

The man was re-arrested on a US extradition request for publishing classified documents, police said. At the same time, Deputy Head of the British Foreign Ministry Alan Duncan said that Assange would not be sent to the United States if he faced the death penalty there.

In the UK, Assange is likely to appear in court on the afternoon of April 11. This is stated on the WikiLeaks Twitter page. British authorities are likely to seek a maximum sentence of 12 months, the man's mother said, citing his lawyer.

At the same time, Swedish prosecutors are considering reopening the rape investigation. Attorney Elizabeth Massey Fritz, who represented the victim, will seek this.

Earth Hour is an annual international event of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), which involves symbolically turning off lights and household electrical appliances for one hour as a sign of concern for the future of the planet. During it, the lights of the most famous buildings and monuments in the world go out.

The event is held around the world at the end of March. In 2017, the Earth Hour event will be held on March 25 between 20.30 and 21.30 (local time) under the slogan "".

The purpose of the action is to attract the attention of people, governments, and businesses to the need for a responsible attitude towards nature. The action is voluntary. People decide for themselves which electrical appliances they turn off, no matter where they are - at home or in the office.

"Earth Hour" is not just a bright event that helps to attract public attention to environmental issues. The organizers aim to attract new participants to solve specific problems: protecting forests from fires, protecting unique natural objects, saving electricity, water, other natural resources, combating climate warming.

The Earth Hour campaign was first held at the initiative of WWF Australia in 2007 in Sydney. More than two million people took part in it. The very next year, 35 countries around the world joined Earth Hour. At the appointed time, the lights of the Colosseum in Rome (Italy), the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco (USA) and many other attractions went out. Every year, new countries join Earth Hour and more and more people, through their participation in it, show their concern for the future of the planet.

Currently, Earth Hour is the largest environmental action on the planet.

In 2016, 178 countries, seven thousand cities and more than two billion people took part in the event.

In the Russian Federation, the Earth Hour campaign is carried out by WWF Russia with the support of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation and the Moscow government.

The event was first officially held in Russia in 2009, but even earlier it was supported by a number of enthusiasts in the country. In 2016, the event took place in 100 cities in 63 regions. In Moscow at 20:30 the lights installed on Tverskaya Square were “turned off”. The lighting of more than 1,500 buildings was turned off, including the Moscow Kremlin, “Stalinist” high-rise buildings, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, Luzhniki, the Bolshoi Theater, the State Duma and Federation Council buildings, and most buildings on the Garden Ring, Novy Arbat, and Tverskaya Street. For the first time, the lighting of the Moscow City towers went out.

The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources

One day the hour comes when each of us thinks about the environment. And when we look on a global scale at the environmental situation on our entire planet, the picture emerges as sad. But all the existing problems should not make us give up, because if there is a problem, this is a sign that we need to act and change something! Let's start by at least paying attention to the existing environmental problem. This task became the basis of the world famous project “ Earth Hour 2017».

Earth Hour 2017

Earth Hour is a global event that takes place every year on the last Saturday of March across the globe. The idea of ​​such a project belongs to the World Wildlife Fund. The main idea of ​​the campaign is that people all over the planet at an agreed time on this day turn off the lights and all appliances that consume electricity for 1 hour. The lighting of monuments and buildings of world significance also goes out.

For what?

Why is this done and what does this 1 hour of “electric silence” give? The point is for as many people as possible to pay attention to the existing problem of climate change on Earth, to urge them not to be indifferent and to join forces to solve the environmental problem.

Of course, this is mostly a purely symbolic action. " Earth Hour 2017" - not to save energy. He seems to be saying that we need to treat nature with care, act together, calls for more active and decisive protection of the Earth’s climate, and also to take care and remember that its resources are not limitless.

Scientific information

If you believe scientists, then according to their calculations, as humanity conducts business, uses natural resources and accumulates waste, then by 2050 we will need a new planet, because... this one will no longer be useful. Such a clear example of our activities makes us think - what will we leave to our descendants?

1 hour for us

The information from scientists is amazing. It immediately becomes clear that such a global problem needs to be solved by everyone together, at all levels. Therefore the action " Earth Hour 2017"gives everyone the opportunity to vote for the cleanliness and health of our Earth. Do not think that this “voting” is formal. By expressing our consent and participating in the action, we actually give such processes a moral assessment and develop the correct worldview. And this is very important! After all, it is our goals, attitudes, our aspiration of love for the planet and our deep view of life that shapes our behavior.

Scale of the action

The campaign began with one single city - Sydney (Australia) in 2007. And the next year the world community joined it: 35 countries and 100 million people. Since then, more and more people have been participating in the event every year. Now this figure has already exceeded 2 billion people. This is the largest and most famous environmental campaign.

In Russia, the action officially started in 2009, although adherents carried it out on a less grand scale earlier. The lighting of the Kremlin, St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow, the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ, the Winter Palace (St. Petersburg) and other buildings were turned off. The same is true with the world cultural monuments Colosseum (Rome), Golden Gate (San Francisco), Eiffel Tower (Paris), etc. The project is supported by famous people, actors, presenters, musicians and public figures.

How to join?

In 2017, the promotion Earth Hour 2017" will take place on Saturday 25 March at 20:30. Yes, you! Turn off the lights for an hour!

The options for carrying out the promotion are different. You can do more than just turn off the lights. Various events are held: fire shows, bike rides, ecology lessons, master classes on making eco-friendly toys, jewelry, etc.

Also on the official website of the program you can take a test, mark your location on the map, and participate in programs to preserve forests and rare animals. In the latest project, you can team up with friends, like-minded people and conduct your events with benefit. You can hold an exhibition, a concert and collect donations to help some rare animal or for other eco-events. You can “take” a tiger under collective care, collect garbage in the forest, etc.

What will happen to the power plant?

A frequently asked question is how such a power surge will affect the operation of power plants. The media have already repeatedly explained that NOTHING will happen, because such a power surge is actually the same as if, for example, Muscovites returned from work at 7 pm and turned on the lights, like the usual rhythm of morning or evening stress. Therefore, there is no harm to power plants.

60+

The promotion's logo was previously "60". Over time, with the development of the program, the logo became “60+”. He calls for going beyond just one hour and doing something more to save our planet. And as always, you need to start with yourself! Therefore, let's change for the better, every day at least a little, learn everything that makes our life easier, and we will succeed.