Zee Media Bureau
Sydney: Sydney`s iconic Harbor Bridge and Opera House went dark on Saturday as Australians switched off lights around the country for an hour as part of a global effort to shine a spotlight on climate change.
Some 7,000 cities and towns from New York to New Zealand are participating to mark the Earth Hour which this year aims to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for green projects.
Australia is among the first countries to shut off the light switches each year. Also, the movement will see world landmarks including the Empire State Building, the Eiffel Tower and the Kremlin switch off their lights for 60 minutes at 8:30 pm local time today.
Organised by World Wide Fund (WWF) for Nature, the `Earth Hour` is celebrated across major cities of the world on the last Saturday of March annually by turning off non-essential lights and electrical appliances for one hour from 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm.
Earth Hour began in 2007 in Sydney, but the idea quickly spread around the world and hundreds of millions of people are estimated to have turned their lights off for the event last year.
India observes Earth Hour
The national capital, Delhi on Saturday observed the earth hour as lights across the city were switched off for an hour at 8.30 pm
Various events also took place for the day while hotels and corporate houses actively supported the event by switching off non-essential lights.
Courtyard by Marriott in suburban Gurgaon shut off its light for an hour while Ericsson went a step ahead and in addition to switching the light off at all its facilities in India, it educated all its employees on how to conserve environment through an e-mail.
Actor Arjun Kapoor has been announced as the national brand ambassador of the environmental campaign ` Earth Hour 2014 ` for India.
(With Agency inputs)
