Internationally-acclaimed sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik has become the brand ambassador for the Earth Hour campaign in Odisha which will kick off worldwide on March 23 from 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm.
Famous personalities like Ajay Devgan, Venkatesh Prasad, Shruti Hassan, Mary Kom, Parambrata Chatterjee and Jiva are also supporting this campaign as brand ambassadors from different regions. The 28-hour Earth Hour campaign will start with a cyclothon from the lord Jagannath Temple at Puri ending on March 23 with a huge sand sculpture at the Puri beach to be built by Patnaik.
Convener of the campaign Nagen Mahapatra said, "Through this 1-hour switch-off Odisha saved around 100 MWs of power last year, and this year we may save around 200 MW to 300 MW of power in just one hour of the campaign.
All the Government offices, corporate offices, NGOs, and civil societies have been informed to join the campaign to save the earth from global warming, added Mahapatra.
The Earth Hour has grown from a one-city initiative in 2007 to a global phenomenon in 2009 and spread its wings in more and more countries in 2010 and 2011. The Earth Hour-2012 witnessed a participation of more than 200 crore people from 152 Countries. India and Odisha have been participating in this global event since 2009.