Lights will be switched off in 7,000 cities across the world at 8:30 p.m. Saturday evening to mark the 10th annual Earth Hour.
The initiative, PREMIUM TIMES gathered, is put in place to draw global attention to climate change.
The Earth Hour initiative began in Australia in 2007 as a grassroots gesture by the World Wildlife Fund, WWF, Australia, against man-made carbon dioxide emissions linked to a warming planet.
In 2017, it will involve the switching off of electric lights for an hour in 7,000 cities across 172 countries, at 8:30 p.m. local time, with the aim of highlighting the need to act on climate change, and saving a few megawatts of power in the process.
Among the famous buildings and structures taking part are some of the world’s best known skyscrapers and historic buildings.
They include the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai; London’s Big Ben and Houses of Parliament; the Colosseum in Rome; Istanbul’s Blue Mosque; the Eiffel Tower; Moscow’s Kremlin and Red
Square and the Pyramids of Egypt.
Square and the Pyramids of Egypt.
Organizers of Earth Hour, according to Reuters, said they do not audit results of the energy saving initiative, but the group has commissioned research indicating up to one in four Australians gets involved in the initiative.
WWF says Earth Hour can take credit for various environmental initiatives, like the 2013 declaration of a 3.4 million hectare marine park in the waters off Argentina, the planting of a forest in Uganda and a ban on soft plastics in the Galapagos Island.
