Cities around the world marked Earth Hour on Saturday by turning off lights at

8:30pm local time in a call for global action on climate change.

Earth Hour, spearheaded by the World Wildlife Fund, calls for greater awareness and
more sparing use of resources, especially fossil fuels that produce carbon gases
and lead to global warming. Beginning in Sydney in 2007, Earth Hour has spread to
more than 180 countries, with tens of millions of people joining in.

The Empire State Building participated as clocks hit 8:30pm on the US East Coast
with a dimming of the skyscrapers� lights.

In Hong Kong, major buildings along Victoria Harbour turned off their non-essential
lights and the city�s popular tourist attraction known as the Symphony of Lights
was canceled.

Over 3,000 corporations in Hong Kong signed up for Earth Hour 2019, according to
the WWF Hong Kong website. Iconic skyscrapers including the Bank of China Tower and
the HSBC Building in Central, the city�s major business district, switched off
their lights in response to the global movement.

The City of Lights also turned off the Eiffel Tower�s nightly twinkle to mark Earth
Hour. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo dimmed the lights yesterday on the city�s most
famous monument for an hour.

In Italy, public buildings and historical monuments in 400 cities participated in

Earth Hour. Lights were also switched off at St. Peter�s Basilica at the Vatican.

Some of most emblematic architectural treasures in Spain participated, including

the Alhambra palace in Granada and Barcelona�s La Sagrada Familia basilica.

In Taipei, Taiwan�s capital, the island�s tallest building, Taipei 101, joined
surrounding buildings in shutting off the lights as part of the Earth Hour event.

In coal-reliant Poland, top tourist sites also turned off their lights when local
clocks hit 8:30pm In the country�s capital city, Warsaw, the spired landmark Palace
of Culture and Science turned off its night illumination, along with some churches
and Old Town walls.

Lights were also switched off in several landmarks in the Greek capital. The
Acropolis, Athens City Hall and Lycabettus Hill, towering above the Athens center,
went dark and the Parliament building joined in. However, the Athens mayor�s calls
for the people to join in by turning off the lights in their houses went mostly
unheeded.