Earth Hour 2015 took place around the globe, as lights were turned off on landmarks around the globe in an act to raise awareness about global climate change.
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Earth Hour Initiative called for people around the globe to turn out their lights at 8:30 p.m. local time on March 28.
Lights went off in skyscrapers on Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong, and public buildings in Seoul, capital of South Korea.
Earth Hour started in March 2007 in Sydney, Australia, as a project of the WWF and an assortment of partners, following three years of planning and discussions. In October of that year, San Francisco followed Sydney by holding their own voluntary blackout, called "Lights Out." The following year was the first time the event took place on all seven continents, when lights went out at the Empire State Building, Sydney Opera House, Petronas Towers in Malaysia, and several other of the world's most famous landmarks. Even search engine giant Google went "dark" that day seven years ago.
"Earth Hour is more than an event. It is a movement that has achieved massive environmental impact, including legislation changes by harnessing the power of the crowd," Earth Hour managers wrote on the non-profit organization's Web site.
The annual event is held on the last Saturday in March, when businesses, communities and households shut off non-essential lights for an hour as a show of solidarity in the battle against climate change. Currently, more than 7,000 towns, cities, and villages take part in the ceremony. In 2014, Earth Hour was observed by people in 162 countries, including the nations of the United Kingdom, where nine million people participated.
Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, created a video to raise awareness of the event. In order to bring more publicity to the recording, the first picture ever seen of the royal with his grandson Prince George is visible on a desk near the monarch.
"Argentina used its 2013 Earth Hour campaign to help pass a Senate bill for a 3.4 million hectare Marine Protected Area in the country... In Paraguay, WWF used the Earth Hour platform to build public support to gain an extension of the logging moratorium, helping to reduce deforestation," World Hour organizizers report.
Critics have charged the event does little to save energy, and that the practice hearkens back to a "dark age" before the widespread distribution of commercial fossil fuels and electricity.
An Earth Hour Blue crowdfunding system, first developed in 2014, aims at collecting funds for environmental projects around the world. In 2015, targeted projects include wildlife conservation efforts in Uganda, Indonesia, and Columbia, along with solar light distribution projects in the Philippines and India.
