Everything went dark at 8:30 p.m. on 30 March 2019. The whole world came together to participate in the movement of Earth Hour by switching off the lights to spread awareness about sustainability and climate change.
The global movement started in Samoa and finished in the Cook Islands covering more than 185 countries with millions of citizens turning their lights off for an hour in the period of 14 hours.
Earth Hour was first started by the World Wildlife Fund — the leading organization in wildlife conservation and endangered species — in 2007 in Sydney, Australia. WWF encouraged millions of people to switch their lights off for one hour to support climate change action.
Now the movement is now the world’s largest grassroots movement promoting sustainability and environmental conservation.
Great buildings and monuments including Big Ben in London, Egypt’s Great Pyramids, Brazil’s Christ the Redeemer statue, the Sydney Opera House, the Colosseum in Rome, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Burj Khalifa in Dubai and New York City’s Empire State Building all took part in going dark.
WWF encourages people to take the pledge to protect the planet. For every pledge made, Earth Hour’s partner Ariel donated £1 on our one’s behalf.
“From turning your washing to 30°C, to reducing the plastic you buy, and even changing the way you eat – thousands of you across the country pledged to play your part. Now’s the time to put your pledges into action and start changing for our world,” WWF quoted.
Various countries around the world reported massive savings of electricity during the earth hour. But dedicating an hour is not meant to save electricity but to address the problem of environmental degradation and make more and more people aware of the climate crisis.