Canberra, the capital city of Australia, together with seven other state capitals, switched off the lights for one hour at 8 o'clock Saturday evening local time.
They were marking the Earth Hour to raise the awareness of the world to reduce gas emission and protect the environment on the earth.
Federal Climate Change Minister Penny Wong said in Sydney to celebrate the Earth Hour function that "Earth Hour is a way in which individuals can take responsibility when it comes to climate change."
When the first Earth Hour was staged in Sydney a year ago, an estimated 2.2 million Sydneysiders took part.
But this year, not only other major cities in Australia followed suit, but hundreds of cities around the globe also responded positively to switch off the lights in their cities at 8o'clock on Saturday evening local time.
Earth Hour Australia chief executive Greg Bourne said, "there's370 cities and municipalities taking part that we know about, and many others as well, so we only need 50 cities of two million people and we'll do it."
Bourne said Earth Hour, and its images of blacked-out cities, was akin to New Year's Eve as it was celebrated in the world's major cities with fireworks.
"It is a message of hope and optimism ... we the citizens of the world are prepared to take action and we want to defeat climate change," he added.
The core message of Earth Hour is for people to reduce their consumption of electricity, which is usually generated by the burning of fossil fuels.
Source:Xinhua
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