Updated March 28th, 2021 at 15:17 IST

From India Gate to Eiffel Tower: Landmarks switch off lights to mark annual Earth Hour

Earth Hour’s official Twitter handle called on leaders, and world premises to participate in raising awareness about the planet by turning the lights off.

Reported by: Zaini Majeed
| Image:self
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Across the world, lights were turned off at major landmarks on Saturday to mark Earth Hour to encourage communities and businesses to commit towards the planet by conserving energy and for a better future. The Earth Hour’s official Twitter handle called on leaders, and world premises to participate in observing the hour to raise awareness about the planet and inspire people towards conservation practices. From Singapore to Australia, to Buenos Aires, cities engulfed in darkness as lights were switched off at the important landmarks between 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm on 27 March and the virtual spotlights were shone expressing solidarity with the planet’s cause. 

The one-off event was created by the conservation charity the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Australia on March 31, 2007, who called on the famous buildings and landmarks across the globe to go dark and share images of participating in the initiative of saving the planet. The tradition has ever since continued. This year, the event highlighted the disastrous impact of climate change, bad food hygiene, carbon emissions,  plastic, and marine pollution on the health of the Blue planet as well as it also emphasized the impact of disease outbreaks on human health, citing the novel coronavirus pandemic. 

India goes 'dark' to express solidarity

As a symbolic gesture of making a commitment to rescuing the planet from hazardous effects of human activities, and saving energy, millions across the globe, approximately 35 nations, and more than 400 cities and landmarks such as Eiffel Tower, Sydney Opera House, Big Ben, the Colosseum, and the Empire State Building among many other, including Google search engine’s homepage went dark. India came on board the tradition in 2009 with over five million people across 58 cities participating in the event, and this year the country expressed solidarity by turning off lights at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, India Gate, Shanti Stupa, Qutub Minar, National Defence Academy (NDA), Pune, Ladakh, Royal Mysore Palace, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Mumbai. 

Joining the inspiring action towards the planet’s brighter future was UN headquarters in New York City, UK’s The Palace of Westminster, containing the House of Commons and House of Lords, Rome switching off lights in 2,000-year-old Colosseum, Hong Kong, and Singapore going dark as lights on the sky-high metropolis were turned off, Brandenburg Gate in Berlin and Moscow's Kremlin. 

(Image Credit: Twitter/@LaTourEiffel)

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Published March 28th, 2021 at 15:17 IST

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