Earth Hour 2016: Millions of people to plunge into darkness

Credit: WWFunitedkingdom/YouTube.

More than 10 million people in the UK will be switching off their lights for an hour this Saturday as part of WWF’s 10th Earth Hour.

The symbolic event starts at 8:30pm, and 178 countries will turn off their lights to show they care about the environment.

Many iconic landmarks around the world such Times Square, Sydney Harbour Bridge and Big Ben, Buckingham Palace and Edinburgh Castle in the UK will plunge into darkness for an hour.

Shareen Brown, Earth Hour Project Manager, said: “What’s nice about Earth Hour is that it’s not just about the landmarks, it really is about people campaigning in their communities.

“That’s the joy of Earth Hour. It’s about being creative and everybody has their interpretation or idea of what they would like to do in the dark.”

Last year, more than 10 million people in the UK took part in Earth Hour, with 84 per cent of them saying they felt inspired to do more about the planet.

Ms Brown added: “Earth Hour is a moment for us all in a very easy, fun and simple way to show that we care and to take that further.

“We always say it’s 60 minutes, but actually the impact of the event is very much afterwards – individuals feel inspired to make a difference.”

Earth Hour started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia. At the time, it was only Sydney taking part with iconic landmarks switching off their lights to show they cared about tackling climate change. Since then, it has grown year on year. In 2015  a record-breaking 172 countries took part.

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