Earth Hour deemed a success by organisers

Tens of millions of people switched off their lights for Earth Hour over the weekend according to reports.

The initiative, first held in Sydney last year, has now become a global event with people in every continent, including Antartica, taking part. As a result, cities around the world were plunged into darkness between 8pm and 9pm local time on Saturday evening to highlight the issues of energy waste and climate change.

Results from "host nation" Australia suggest that over half of the country's adult population took part in the event, with Energy Australia, the company which supplies most of the electricity to Sydney, reporting around an 8.4% drop in energy usage in the city during Earth Hour.

Elsewhere, another 25 international Earth Hour "flagship cities" switched off in 10 countries across the globe alongside an additional 370 supporting cities, making Earth Hour the largest voluntary power down event in history.

Read more about the event at the official Earth Hour website.

Did you take part in Earth Hour? Do you think that events like these can have a positive impact on raising global awareness of climate change issues? Have your say by clicking here.