According to a press release issued here on Thursday, every year World Wide Foundation (WWF) celebrates Earth Hour all over the world by
switching off extra lights from 8.30pm to 9.30pm in every local time zone.
It also notes that dimming or
switching off street lights may affect vulnerable groups such as the elderly and lone persons in feeling vulnerable and lead to an increased fear of crime.
'Aside from
switching off our lights, we enjoin our young people, especially millennials, to disconnect from their mobile devices and instead connect with the planet, and for an hour, dedicate the symbolic switch-off to commit to live a climate-smart lifestyle,' Seguerra said.
Through the symbolic act of
switching off non-essential lights for one hour around the world, Earth Hour hopes to create awareness around the issue of climate change as well as involve people in tackling the problem in their own capacities.
Qasim joined the event for the first time in the history of the region represented by Onaizah municipality by
switching off the lights in eight major streets and the Clock Tower and square.
Three-quarters of English councils are
switching off or dimming some street lights at night, leading to claims that significant areas have been "plunged into darkness" since the Government took office.
The policy calls for partial
switching off of some street lights on internal roads in residential communities with thin traffic movement.
In the United States, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, the Empire State Building in New York, and the Space Needle in Seattle are just some popular sites, which will be
switching off their lights for the event.
"We will closely monitor the effects on traffic to assess the impact that
switching off the lighting will have.
A senior Indian Broadcasting Foundation ( IBF) official said that a similar exercise of
switching off channels will be carried out in a phased manner till October 31.
The day of free football activities, held in Times Square last month, aimed to get families
switching off for an hour every day in favour of doing activities together that don't use any electricity.