For the fourth time Moscow and other Russian cities took part in the global Earth Hour on Saturday evening, saving about 2,400 kWh of energy in the capital only.

       The event began in Moscow at 20:30 local time [16:30 GMT]. About 65 buildings, including such famous objects as Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow State University, City Hall, Radisson Royal Hotel, Moscow’s Academy of Sciences etc., went dark for an hour. 

      The main Earth Hour celebration in Moscow took place at Vorobyovy Gory (Sparrow Hills), which is located near the campus of the Moscow State University. People watched a fire and laser show, lighted candles and launched hundreds of sky lanterns to the night sky.

      Moscow officials supported this action, saying it is a good way to unite Muscovites and people all around the globe and raise their awareness of environmental problems.

      St. Petersburg participated too with shutting down lightings for the famous bridges across the Neva River, the Winter Palace, Peter and Paul’s Fortress, the Central Naval Museum and other buildings.

      According to the event's Russian organizers, some 15 million Russians observed the action this year, which is 40 per cent more than the previous year.

       The Earth Hour was organized by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and is held annually n the last Saturday of March.It is a symbolic event calling on people to seek a better balance between humanity’s desire for consumption and the planet’s ability to sustain it. The first action of that kind was made in Australia in 2007, when residents in Sydney turned off their lights for one hour to make a statement about energy use and global warming. Now it is one of the largest voluntary events in the history. In 2011 it united 4,000 cities from 131 countries, which turned off lights on the 750 major landmarks around the world, not including millions of people switching off lights in their houses.  

Sources: vesti-moscow.ru metronews.ru Russia Today Image: ecoportal.su