SMART Communications Inc. (Smart) is supporting Earth Hour 2009 to be led by global conservation organization World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Philippines.

In the country, WWF-Philippines is collaborating with the Department of Energy, The Green Army, and the Switch Movement for the campaign.

Valentine's 2009 blog

"By supporting the WWF-Philippines' call to participate in Earth Hour, Smart is joining a global effort to mobilize more people in the fight against global warming and climate change," said Smart Chief Wireless Advisor Orlando B. Vea.

"WWF is pleased that Smart is taking part in Earth Hour 2009," said WWF-Philippines CEO and vice chairman of the board Lory Tan. "We thank our partners for coming together as a nation. This global event is a call to all Filipinos to take a stand against climate change by switching off their lights. It is a statement that we're not going down without a fight."

Smart will be turning off the lights on its billboards and building facilities located in various parts of the country in support of Earth Hour, beginning at 8:30 p.m. local time on March 28, Saturday.

To send out a stronger message on the need to take action on global warming and climate change, Smart will keep the billboard lights turned off for the entire evening. Smart Wireless Centers will also be joining the call to turn off lights for an hour.

To urge employees and their families to take part in Earth Hour 2009, Smart also launched an internal campaign for the event. The internal campaign includes daily eco-friendly tips via e-mail for the month of March, online promos, and in partnership with Philips Lighting Philippines a talk on energy efficiency for employees and a "switch" campaign that aims to get employees to replace incandescent bulbs at home with energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs).

Smart is participating in Earth Hour 2009 as part of its environment advocacy program Smart Kabalikat sa Kalikasan. Among the environment programs Smart is implementing are a tree planting program and the use of renewable energy sources in powering cell sites in remote locations.

In 2008, the combined efforts of Smart employee-volunteers and community partners led to the planting of some 160,000 seedlings and mangrove propagules in selected provinces across the country.

Most recently, the "Alternative Power for Cell Sites" program of Smart won the newly introduced "Green Mobile Award" at the prestigious 2009 GSM Association Global Mobile Awards in Barcelona, Spain. (Press release)