Published time: March 23, 2013 12:16
The world’s population is set to take part in Earth Hour — an annual event designed to draw attention to wastage of resources. This year, Moscow’s Kremlin joins in, with electricity switched off for an hour in the heart of the Russian capital.
11:00 GMT: In Seoul, South Korea, Namsan tower, a 63 story building, and other major buildings went dark after the country joined Earth Hour.
10:00 GMT: Sydney’s skyline plunged into darkness as the city shut down its lights for the Earth Hour campaign against climate change, starting a planet-wide event.
09:00 GMT: RT gives you live updates as countries around the globe one by one are to join the Earth Hour campaign. President Vladimir Putin will take part in the event, turning off the lights at 8.30pm — the time the event is scheduled to commence all across the globe.
The lights will remain, though, on the Kremlin clock and the Russian flag and glowing red stars atop its towers, a spokesman for the presidential administration, Viktor Khrekov, told RIA Novosti.
Ninety more architectural landmarks of Moscow, including the famous Moscow State University building, are set to turn off their lights for an hour.
Russian astronaut Roman Romanenko, currently part of the team at the International Space Station, appealed for broad support of the event in a video statement posted on YouTube.
“From here in space we can see very well how much our planet needs protection,” he said.
Earth Hour is an annual international event aimed at attracting attention to the problem of waste of resources and global climate change. Launched in 2007 in Sydney, Australia, it soon caught on and is now conducted by the WWF in 150 countries.
Critics say that it could lead to an increase in carbon emissions and place great strain on electricity grids. What’s more, many experts say that the move essentially compares environmentalism with “living in the dark” and has little to do with helping the planet become ‘greener’.
