Earth Hour 2017: Cities, Monuments Go Dark to Fight Climate Change

Various cities and historical monuments around the world have shut off their lights in support for Earth Hour 2017. The campaign hopes to boost the support and clamor for the usage of renewable energy to fight climate change.

According to Physics.org, monuments such as the Luna Park and Sydney Harbour Bridge, as well as the Empire State Building and the United Nations in New York, have joined Earth Hour 2017. In other countries, the Eiffel Tower in France, the Kremlin in Russia, the Acropolis in Greece, and the Opera House in Sydney also joined the movement.

In Shwedagon, Myanmar, 10,000 oil lamps were lit to spread the message on climate change. Eiffel Tower shut down for five minutes, while the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the world's tallest building, went dark for an hour.

VOA News said that in Britain, around 270 landmarks were switched off in celebration of Earth Hour. In Berlin, the famed Brandenburg Gate and its City Hall had it lights shut off.

Earth Hour officially started in Sydney in 2007 and eventually became a worldwide campaign organized by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

Coordinator Siddarth Das said the Earth Hour campaign hopes to spread the message regarding climate change as a major issue that should be a worldwide concern. Earth Hour also hopes to emphasize the damage climate change has done to the planet.

"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," he said.

Last year, scientists have recorded the planet's hottest temperature. To minimize the effects of climate change, nations worldwide have pledged, under the Paris Agreement of 2015, to limit global warming to well below two degrees Celsius.

This is the most acceptable level in which mankind may still avoid worst-case scenarios regarding sea level rise, droughts and extreme flooding.