March 30: Earth Hour, Pencil Day
Kyiv • UNN
On the last Saturday of March, 190 countries around the world participate in Earth Hour, turning off their lights for one hour to promote energy efficiency and smart resource consumption, the largest environmental movement in the world.
Today, all concerned defenders of the ecology of our planet can join the Earth Hour, UNN writes.
Earth Hour takes place every year on the last Saturday of March. In the evening, everyone who cares turns off their lights for one hour, but in reality, the event goes far beyond this symbolic action.
Currently, 190 countries take part in Earth Hour every year, and this event has become the largest environmental movement in the world. Every year, more and more people and businesses join the event, symbolically casting their vote for energy efficiency and reasonable resource consumption.
Today is also Pencil Day. The event was established in honor of the fact that on March 29, 1858, Hyman Lipman received a patent for a pencil with an eraser.
The prototypes of modern pencils appeared in the sixteenth century in Great Britain, when graphite was mined on an industrial scale.
Later, graphite sticks were wrapped with rope or sheepskin for stability. The modern pencil as we know it was developed by Nicolas-Jacques Cont in 1795, who invented the process of mixing graphite with clay to produce different levels of hardness.
In the nineteenth century, an entire pencil factory was established, founded by Josef Hartmut.
During the 1889 World's Fair in Paris, a pencil company from Austria-Hungary introduced a new luxury pencil that was colored yellow. As a result, yellow became associated with quality, and many other pencil manufacturers began to use this color for their products.
No matter what the weather is like, everyone who likes to breathe fresh air today joins the Day of Walking in the Park.
The key goal of the event is to distract from everyday life and spend at least a few hours communicating with nature.
Also today, many countries are celebrating World Bipolar Day. The event was established in honor of the birthday of the brilliant artist Vincent Van Gogh, who was posthumously diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
Bipolar disorder is a psychopathological illness manifested by sharp shifts in mood, alternating bouts of mania and depression. Relapses last for weeks and months. Manic-depressive psychosis, as the disease used to be called, can destroy careers and family relationships if left untreated, and in particularly severe cases, lead to suicide.
The World Bipolar Day is a call to action for everyone to support people living with bipolar disorder by promoting understanding, eliminating stigma, and offering hope.
According to medical estimates, about 1% of the world's population suffers from bipolar disorder.
According to the church calendar, today is the Day of Remembrance of St. John the Listener, who lived in the fourth and fifth centuries.
John was born into a wealthy Christian family. Upon reaching adulthood, he gave away all his possessions to the needy, took monastic vows, and retired to the desert for 40 years.
He is the author of the theological work Listvitsa.
Ivan and Zakhar celebrate their name days on March 30.
