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Did You Remember to Turn Off the Lights for Earth Hour?
Image Source: Screen capture from EarthHour.org
As I write this, Earth Hour has come and gone for the Eastern US coast. I can’t speak for others in my community, or anyone else along the eastern seaboard, but we did indeed plunge ourselves into total electrical darkness. We simply played cards by candlelight, as we did last year. How did the rest of the world fare? Well…
• 125 countries joined the campaign this year—a record for Earth Hour
• 4,000 cities (at least) plunged into darkness
• 5,664,496 people made the pledge to switch off their lights
Along with all of that, quite a few landmarks, monuments and government buildings also went dark for Earth Hour. Included in the list are: Sydney’s Opera House, the Forbidden City, the Great Pyramids and Sphinx of Egypt, the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, and even the world’s tallest building—the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Others that are also participating (but have yet to hit their own 8:30 time as I write this) include Mount Rushmore, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the Las Vegas Strip.
Needless to say, this Earth Hour ended up being a huge success! You can check out pictures and videos of the event on the official Earth Hour website (or simply check out this Yahoo! gallery). They also have a slideshow available of landmarks and monuments gone dark, plus you can also share your own photos from the event.
Now, it’s time to start planning for next year!
By Heidi Marshall
Tags: climate change, Earth Hour, environment, the world goes dark, turn off the lights, world monuments and landmarks go dark, WWF
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