Cities across Saudi Arabia marked Earth Hour on Saturday by asking households and businesses to turn off their non-essential lights for an hour, as part of the world’s largest event dedicated to the environment.
From 8.30 p.m. to 9.30 pm, many areas in Madinah and Jeddah were plunged into darkness for the 10th anniversary of the initiative which was started by the World Wildlife Fund.
For its part, Jeddah Province Municipality asked home owners and business owners to switch off their lights and also made sure that architectural monuments in the city had their floodlights turned off for the occasion.
Jeddah’s Globe and Lantern roundabouts were included, as was the city’s Red Sea Mall.
“Once the lights were turned off while I was shopping, I felt like the whole society was cooperating and helping the… universe,” Saja Al-Humaiani, a psychology student who was present at the mall during Earth Hour, told Arab News.
“Just the thought that everyone is really concerned about having a better world and a better environment makes me proud that Saudi Arabia can be counted as one of the countries which participated in such an event,” she added.
According to Reuters, Jeddah joined 7,000 cities across 172 countries which participated in the event which aims to raise awareness on the need to combat climate change and save a few megawatts of power in the process.
Madinah also took part in the initiative and saw lights and non-essential electronic devices turn off for an hour.
Director of PR and Media at Madinah Governate Khaled Bin Miteb told Arab News that the event was accompanied by a letter campaign geared toward raising awareness on the dangers posed to the environment.
In Madinah, lights were turned off at specially- selected locations, including the governate’s main government building, a number of municipality buildings, a number of the main parks and gardens and designated areas of the larger malls.