全球熄燈響應“地球一小時”

More than 134 countries across the world, including the UK, switched off their lights for an hour on Sunday to support action to create a sustainable future for the planet。

Environmental charity World Wildlife Fund has organised the Earth Hour event which saw iconic buildings such as Big Ben, the BT Tower, Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, Edinburgh Castle, Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, Stormont in Northern Ireland and Cardiff's Millennium Centre blacking out for an hour。

The event, which took place at 8.30pm Sunday around the world, started in Fiji, New Zealand and Australia。

The aim is to highlight the charity's call on governments, organisations and individuals to pledge their commitment to tackling climate change。

At the Royal Albert Hall in London, television presenter Kirsty Gallacher led a team of 60 cyclists from the UK-World Wildlife Fund to create a huge human-powered projection with images of endangered species including dolphins and tigers being shone on to the building。

Colin Butfield, head of campaigns, WWF-UK, said: 'Our event at the Royal Albert Hall, alongside the hundreds of thousands of events across the world, shows global support for the need to tackle climate change and protect the natural world。

'The challenge for our future well-being could not be greater. WWF's Earth Hour is about creating a message so powerful that governments and businesses cannot fail to take notice.'

Earth Hour started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia, when 2.2 million individuals and more than 2,000 businesses turned their lights off for one hour to take a stand against climate change。

The following year, Earth Hour had become a global sustainability movement with more than 50 million people across 35 countries participating。

Four of the world's five tallest buildings turned off their lights with the tallest, the 828-metre Burg Khalifa in Dubai, switching off about half a million lights。

Also darkening for the occasion were floodlights at natural wonders such as Niagara and Victoria Falls and Table Mountain in South Africa。上週日(譯者注：北京時間上週六)，全球超過134個國家和地區的若干城市熄燈一小時，以支持爲地球創建可持續發展未來的環保行動。英國也參與了這項活動。

“地球一小時”活動由環保機構世界自然基金會組織，參與活動的英國標誌性建築包括大本鐘、英國電信塔、白金漢宮、溫莎城堡、愛丁堡城堡、布裏斯托爾的克利夫頓吊橋、北愛爾蘭的斯托蒙特城堡、以及加的夫千禧中心。

這項活動於上週日晚八點半(譯者注：北京時間上週六晚八點半)在全球開始，首先熄燈的是斐濟、新西蘭和澳大利亞。

活動旨在強調世界自然基金會發出的呼籲，號召政府、有關機構和個人踐行應對氣候變化問題所作出的承諾。

在倫敦的艾伯特演奏廳，電視主持人柯蒂斯•加拉徹帶領60位英國自然基金會的環保人士用腳踏車爲投影設備提供電力，在音樂廳的外牆上展現包括海豚、老虎在內的各種瀕危動物的影像。

活動負責人、來自英國自然基金會的科林•巴特菲爾德說：“我們在艾伯特演奏廳的活動，以及在全球舉辦的成百上千場熄燈活動，體現出全球對於應對氣候變化、保護自然界的支持。

“人類未來的福祉現在正面臨最大的挑戰。世界自然基金會的‘地球一小時’活動旨在傳達這樣一個強有力的信息，讓政府和有關行業都無法忽視。”

“地球一小時”活動於2007年首次在澳大利亞悉尼舉辦，當時有220萬人和超過兩千家機構熄燈一小時，以示應對氣候變化的決心。

在2008年，“地球一小時”活動就成爲了一項全球的環保運動。當年有來自35個國家的超過五千萬人參加。

全球最高的五座建築中有四座都參與了這項活動。全球第一高樓、高達828米的迪拜“哈利法塔”關掉了大約50萬盞燈。

尼亞加拉瀑布、維多利亞瀑布、以及南非的桌山等世界著名的自然景觀照明燈也熄燈一小時，呼籲環保。