New York: Cities around the world marked Earth Hour on Saturday by turning off lights at 8:30 pm local time in a call for global action on climate change.
Earth Hour, spearheaded by the World Wildlife Fund, calls for greater awareness and more sparing use of resources, especially fossil fuels that produce carbon gases and lead to global warming. Beginning in Sydney in 2007, Earth Hour has spread to more than 180 countries, with tens of millions of people joining in.
The Empire State Building participated as clocks hit 8:30 pm on the US East Coast with a dimming of the skyscrapers’ lights. In Hong Kong, major buildings along Victoria Harbour turned off their non-essential lights and the city’s popular tourist attraction known as the Symphony of Lights was cancelled.
Iconic skyscrapers including the Bank of China Tower and the HSBC Building in Central, the city’s major business district, switched off their lights in response to the global movement. The City of Lights also turned off the Eiffel Tower’s nightly twinkle to mark Earth Hour. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo dimmed the lights Saturday on the city’s most famous monument for an hour.
