Lights Out For Earth Hour

30 March 2019, 11:12 | Updated: 30 March 2019, 11:14

More than 100 landmarks across the UK from Buckingham Palace to Edinburgh Castle are switching off their lights to mark this year's Earth Hour.

The lights will go off at famous buildings and structures across the country between 8.30pm and 9.30pm on Saturday as part of the international event organised by conservation charity WWF to urge action to save the planet.

Sydney Opera House, Egypt's Great Pyramids, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Brazil's Christ the Redeemer monument and the Empire State Building in New York are among the sites worldwide where the lights will be switched off.

The event sees landmarks, businesses and people switching their lights off for an hour of darkness, and aims to highlight the impacts humans are having on the planet through climate change, pollution, plastic and food production.

More than 7,000 cities in more than 170 countries and millions of people are expected to take part this year, to send a message to leaders that protecting the Earth should be top of their agenda, WWF said.

In the UK, the Houses of Parliament, the London Eye and the Shard, Cardiff Castle, Liverpool Cathedral, Old Trafford, Brighton Pier and the Eden Project are among the landmarks taking part.

Last year across the UK, 10 million people took part, along with more than 7,000 schools, 400 landmarks and thousands of businesses and organisations, the charity said.

WWF warns that people living today are the first generation to experience the effects of climate change, and the last to be able to change it, while the planet is also suffering plastic pollution and deforestation.

The charity is encouraging people to pledge personal actions as part of this year's Earth Hour, such as turning the washing machine down to 30C, avoiding single-use plastics, planning a staycation or holiday nearer to home, changing the way they eat or helping restore nature in their local area.