Cities across the world go dark for Earth Hour

Cities across the globe went dark for a brief period of time Saturday in efforts to draw attention to climate change. 

Eiffel Tower’s lights in Paris shut off Saturday night. Landmarks in other countries across the world – including the Acropolis hill in Greece, the Houses of Parliament and the London Eye in the United Kingdom – also descended into darkness briefly to mark this year’s Earth Hour.

The darkness lasted for an hour on Saturday night, from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 pm local time.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) first launched the symbolic effort in Sydney, Australia, in 2007. The event aims to shine a light on climate change and has since spread across the globe.

According to CBS News, millions of people were expected to have participated in the event across over 180 countries.

{mosads}WWF said in a statement that it hopes the effort will motivate international leaders to take more action to combat climate change. 

“We’re the first generation to know we are destroying our planet,” WWF said, according to CBS News. 

“And we could be the last that can do anything about it,” the organization added.