The 60-minute turning of lights and non-essential electrical appliances in Sydney last year has caught global interest and participation and last night many countries of the world marked the second year of the Earth Hour – at 8 o’clock to further spark the global message hat it is possible to take action on climate change More than two million businesses and households in Sydney, Australia turned off their lights for an hour last year to initiate the celebration of Earth Hour, which has spread this year to six continents and thousands of communities.

In the United States, Chicago will serve as the flagship city for the celebration with San Francisco, Atlanta and Phoenix as the lead partner cities. More than 20 cities all over the world participated in last night’s one-hour switching off of their lights and electrical appliances. The movement is spearheaded by the World Wildlife Fund, which also reiterated the need to change old-energy wasting light bulbs to new, inexpensive and efficient compact fluorescents. WWF pointed out that in the United States is the leading emitter of carbon dioxide — equivalent to more than 20 tons per person annually.

The WWF said the campaign aimed to express that individual action on a mass scale can help change the Earth for the better. “The event clearly demonstrated in participating cities the connection between energy usage and climate change, showing that we as a broader community can address the biggest threat our planet has ever faced,” the organization further said.

WWF pointed out that due to continued reliance on electricity sourced from coal-firepower stations, a dramatic increase in the Earth’s temperature has taken place, resulting in rising sea levels, an increase in drought and severe storms and massive changes to the environment that we all rely on for our survival.

Last year, the Sydney Earth Hour celebration achieved a reduction of 10.2 percent of power reduction, more than double the 5 percent target.

Organizers expressed the hope that people will take action not only on annual Earth Hour celebration but also everyday to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as they reiterated the two pronged goals of the activity: to engage households, communities and businesses to turn their lights off for an hour and, with the creation of public awareness, it is eventually possible to measure the change in our greenhouse gas emissions over the following 12 months.

WWF reminds participants in the Earth Hour and subsequent observances that if they are burning candles during their light-switch-off-moments, they must make sure that they use 100 percent beeswax candles which “are gentler on our planet as they are smoke-free, non-toxic and non-allergenic” which are made of natural products, not petroleum-based materials. The candle users must also be safety-conscious to avoid candle-related fires.