The UK Celebrates Earth Hour By Going Dark
A number of iconic London and UK landmarks went dark for an hour last Saturday to mark the occasion of Earth Hour. The buildings in London that went dark included Buckingham Palace, The Shard, The Palace of Westminster and Ritz Hotel. Across the rest of the country, Old Trafford and Edinburgh Castle were also among a number of other famous British buildings that dimmed their lights. Across the rest of the world many famous landmarks such as the Empire State Building, the Eiffel Tower and Tokyo Tower all faded into the night sky. In fact as many as 350 global landmarks participated in the event which required the lights to be dimmed between 8.30 pm to 9:30 pm local time last Saturday.
Now an institution
Earth Hour has become an institution that was started by WWF in Sydney back in 2007 and is now a worldwide phenomenon that encourages people to demonstrate that they care about the future of the environment by switching their lights off. This year as many as 10.4 million people in the UK participated in the global blackout which now counts 178 countries worldwide that celebrate the event.
People throughout the UK took part
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon came together with as many as 30 MP’s to join the event and uploaded their photographs to social media using the hash tag £passthepanda. In Wales there was huge support for the event which saw all 22 local councils sign up for the blackout. People throughout the UK took to social media to post candle-lit selfies. The theme of this year’s celebration was titled “places we love” which includes forests, beaches, national parks, reefs, river and mountains, all of which are facing existential threats from climate change.
Taking care of the Planet’s future
In a statement made just before the event WWF said Earth Hour has now become a global celebration where both individuals and iconic buildings turn their lights off to show their solidarity with one another and to express the fact that they care about our planet’s future. The event is symbolic and when the lights go out it sends a big message that we need to take care of our planet.
