Melbourne was thrown into darkness on Saturday night, as homes and businesses turned off their lights for Earth Hour.
Now in its seventh year, the event is designed to raise awareness about climate change and energy use.
This year, 152 countries took part in the WWF, Australian-born initiative, including Libya and Palestine.
Following their local clocks, scores of global landmarks such as The Taj Mahal, Big Ben and The Colosseum fell dark at 8:30pm.
In Melbourne, The Arts Centre promoted renewable energy by switching to a symbolic green glow.
Heather Campbell, former CEO of Landcare Australia, praised the hour’s impact.
“Earth Hour is a great initiative as far as raising general awareness within the public about the importance of energy and individual decisions,” she said.
But for her six-year-old child, Ms Campbell said, pedalling an electricity-producing bike at a recent school fair was more valuable.
“Rather than actually turning the lights off,” she said, “was the fact that, ‘Oh, okay, you can actually generate energy, but it requires effort,’
“Flicking off a lightswitch is great, but it doesn’t neccessarily make that connection,” she said.
In 2007, the first Earth Hour saw 2.2 million Sydneysiders switch off their lights.
That figure has reportedly swollen to more than a billion people since – about one-seventh of the world’s total population.
The event is always held in late March, when sunset times are almost identical in the Northern and Southern hemispheres.
The objectors
Despite its successes, not everyone supports Earth Hour.
Inner city resident Julian Smith believes the event is “lazy and ineffectual”.
“I live in Richmond, close to the CBD, and unless you’re watching the news, it’s almost impossible to know anything’s even happening,” he said.
In 2010, UK paper The Telegraph raised concerns the 60 minute slump may actually increase fossil fuel usage, as extra power stations fire up to cope with the sudden return of demand.
That’s missing the point, organisers say.
Samantha Spokes, a Melbourne-based primary school teacher, agrees: “People know fighting climate change is important, but as an issue, they seem to forget about it pretty quickly.
“There’s an ongoing need for a big, global event to grab public attention,” she said.
Daniel Palmer, the deputy editor of Climate Spectator, remains sceptical.
He believes the idea needs to move on from simply switching off the lights.
“It was a good concept, but it’s sort of outdone its worth right now,” he said.
As evidence, Mr Palmer points to Google Trends, which shows a clear decline in searches for “earth hour” after 2009.
“In the first couple of years, I think it was great, but as of a couple of years ago, it’s not only waned in terms of catching the public’s imagination, but also in terms of its need,” he said.
Earth Hour: worthwhile event, or pointless publicity stunt? Let us know by commenting below.
