(Mirror Daily, United States) – In the main cities around the world, the lights went off for Earth Hour. Famous monuments were engulfed by darkness, and the cities seemed to freeze in the night. And while no electronic devices were used for 60 minutes, people were able to see witness the real beauty of the night’s sky.

Earth Hour is an Australian initiative that dates from 2007. The concept was created because the Australian people wanted to raise awareness of the importance of energy conservation and the damage caused by light pollution. Slowly but surely, Earth Hour became a global initiative, hundreds of countries adopting it.

Millions of lights went off for Earth Hour this year. Every year the number of people willing to participate in the initiative grows. And it’s not a meaningless trend. The movement was created primarily to raise awareness of the amounts of electricity wasted by humans every day.

And Earth Hour has begun to symbolize more than just wasted electronic resources. Ever since the movement went global, organizers have started approaching other subjects like the increasing amounts of water that people consume when letting the faucet drip. Electricity and clean water are vital for human prosperity so people should be more careful when using both of these valuable resources.

This year millions of people participated in the initiative. And as the lights went off for Earth Hour, the WWF saw that people are willing to engage in a solidary fight against climate change. The WWF is an Earth Hour sponsor and primary educator on the importance of water and electricity saving.

According to their report, Moscow, Seoul, Beijing, Cairo, Beirut, Rome, Athens, Paris and New York turned off their lights and took part in the world movement. Darkness engulfed the Eifel tower, all witnesses stating that the moment was truly emotional and that seeing that giant metal monument sitting there in the dark made them think about the importance of making the world a safe place for our children.

Also, the Empire State Building’s lights were dimmed, and a considerable portion of the Times Square billboards went dark.

The lights went out even in Beijing’s Confucius Temple and Seoul’s City Hall. Even the 101 skyscrapers in Taiwan went dark as the people in Taiwan showed their solidarity with the Earth Hour movement.

Millions of lights went off for Earth Hour, and most of the participants promised to pay more attention to electricity and water waste in the future by turning off the appliances they don’t use and shutting off the lights went exiting a room.

Image source: Wikimedia