Sydney’s Opera House and the Harbour Bridge plunged into darkness to mark Earth Hour on Saturday night, but it seems the remainder of the city didn’t get the memo.
The event originated in Sydney in 2007 with 2.2 million people and 2,100 businesses switching off their lights for 60 minutes in a bid to highlight climate change.
The harbour city’s landmarks again took part in the now-global phenomenon on Saturday, but pictures show neighbouring commercial and residential buildings failed to follow suit.
Despite the apparent lack of fervour for the event, conservation group WWF, which organises Earth Hour, seemed delighted with the outcome in Sydney and beyond.
‘Well done NSW and VIC!,’ the group posted on Twitter, alongside two pictures of the harbour city showing the moments before and after lights were switched off.
Meanwhile, the group said great strides had been made in highlighting the dire state of the planet.
‘We started Earth Hour in 2007 to show leaders that climate change was an issue people cared about,’ coordinator Siddarth Das said.
‘For that symbolic moment to turn into the global movement it is today, is really humbling and speaks volumes about the powerful role of people in issues that affect their lives.’
From Australia, the event is moving westward through Asia, and will also be marked throughout Africa, Europe and the Americas.
Monuments including the Empire State Building, the Kremlin, Big Ben, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Eiffel Tower and Egypt’s pyramids are all scheduled to switch off.
Homes and businesses were also being asked to join in, and individuals could commit to the cause on Facebook.
Last year, scientists recorded the Earth’s hottest temperatures in modern times for the third year in a row.
Nations agreed in Paris in 2015 to limit average global warming to two degrees Celsius over pre-industrial temperatures.
That is the level at which many scientists say humankind can still avoid worst-case climate outcomes in terms of rising sea levels, worsening droughts and floods, and increasingly violent superstorms.
‘Climate change is visible proof that our actions can have a ripple effect beyond physical borders,’ Das said.
‘It is up to each of us to ensure the impact we create helps instead to improve the lives of those around us and elsewhere, at present and in the future.’
Earth Hour does not collect global statistics on the energy conserved during the 60-minute blackout, with the event having a more symbolic intent.
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