Landmarks around the world go dark for Earth Hour 2018

In Paris, the Eiffel Tower went dark. In London, a kaleidoscope of famous sites switched off their lights – Tower Bridge, Big Ben, Piccadilly Circus, the London Eye.

That scene was repeated over and over across the world on Saturday night: at Sydney’s Opera House; at New Delhi’s great arch; at Kuala Lumpur’s Petronas Towers; at Edinburgh Castle in Scotland; at Brandenburg Gate in Berlin; at St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow.

1:19 Cities across Europe go dark for Earth Hour

• Cities across Europe go dark for Earth Hour
• Lights go out across India for Earth Hour
• The world switches off for Earth Hour Saturday night
• Fewer people taking part in Earth Hour
• Will you take part in Earth Hour?

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It lasted for just an hour and its power is purely symbolic. But in countries around the world, at 8:30 p.m., people were switching off their lights for Earth Hour, a global call for international unity on the importance of addressing climate change.

Since beginning in Sydney in 2007, Earth Hour has spread to more than 180 countries, with tens of millions of people joining in, from turning off their own porch lights to letting the grand sites like the Opera House go dark.

2:06 Earth Hour participation hit record low in 2015 in Toronto, but that could be a good thing

• Earth Hour participation hit record low in 2015 in Toronto, but that could be a good thing
• Time lapse video shows Hong Kong going dark for Earth Hour
• Toronto goes dark for Earth Hour

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Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said 300 Paris buildings observed the blackout to send a “universal message.”

Those 60 minutes are “an opportunity” to shift “the consumption culture and behaviour change toward sustainability,” Indian Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan said.

All this happens and yet many people, of course, barely notice.

Around India Gate, New Delhi’s monument to the Indian dead in World War I, thousands embraced the city’s nightly warm-weather ritual Saturday. They bought ice cream and cheap plastic trinkets. They flirted. Young children rode in electric carts that their parents rented for a few minutes at a stretch.

But for an hour the arch stayed dark, a silent call for change.

In Jordan, the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature arranged 11,440 candles on a hilltop in the capital of Amman, establishing a Guinness World Record for the largest candle mosaic.

The candles spelled the Earth Hour motto of “60+.” However, attempts to light the candles largely failed because of wind on the hilltop, which is close to the city’s landmark, the Amman Citadel.