Moscow, March 25
Over 4,000 cities - including New Delhi and Mumbai - from 131 countries will turn off their lights during the global Earth Hour event Saturday, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said Friday. Earth Hour is organised annually on the last Saturday of March by the WWF.

Cities participating in the global initiative will not just switch off their electricity, but will also plant greenery and install LED street lamps.

“Earth Hour is your chance to vote for Earth by shutting down your lights between 8.30 p.m. and 9.30 p.m. your local time,” the WWF website read. The origin of the campaign can be traced back to Australia in 2007 when businesses and residents in Sydney turned off their lights for one hour to make a statement about energy use and global warming.

Moscow, Geneva, Budapest, Berlin, Rome, Barcelona, Helsinki, Oslo, Madrid, Paris, London, Amsterdam and Vienna are some European cities that will turn off in the name of sustainability all non-essential lights.

In Asia, cities like Bangkok, Singapore, Mumbai, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Seoul, New Delhi, Auckland and Shanghai will support the WWF initiative.

Even the Davis research station in Antarctica will turn off its lights. — IANS/RIA Novosti