lights went out in Europe for an hour Saturday for Earth Hour (the hour of the earth), an initiative of WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) intended to demonstrate the commitment of everyone in the fight against climate change.

Millions of individuals, companies, associations and communities in the world turned off their lights from 20:30 to 21:30 local time for the fourth annual Earth Hour, beginning with the Chatham Islands off New Zealand. Organizers said some 4,000 cities in over 120 countries expected to join the event to reduce energy consumption and raise awareness about the dangers of global warming.

In Great Britain, Buckingham Palace and Parliament were also plunged into darkness, as the Edinburgh Castle in Scotland. ¡°This will tell our politicians: ¡®you cannot renounce to act on climate change¡¯,¡± said Debbie Chapman, Great Britain.

¡°Everyone, from Casablanca to safari camps in Namibia and Tanzania, took part,¡± said Greg Bourne, president of WWF Australia, the origin of this event started in Sydney in 2007 and has since conquered the five continents.

¡°What we are still waiting for the next year is a global agreement that encourages all countries to reduce their emissions¡± of greenhouse gas emissions, said Saturday Andy Ridley, co-initiator of the project and employee of the WWF Sydney, deploring the failure of the last climate summit in Copenhagen last December. ¡°China will have to play a big role there, as well as all major economies,¡± he added.

In Europe, the lights of many monuments have been off for Earth Hour. Germany was plunged into darkness the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin and Cologne Cathedral. The city of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, has extinguished the lights of most of its monuments, including Schiphol Airport, the Artis Zoo and its football stadium the Amsterdam Arena.

Rome off the lights of the fountain of Trevi, a monument of the eighteenth century, immortalized by the movie ¡°La dolce vita¡± by Federico Fellini, where tourists throw a piece by the wish to return to the city.

In France, more than 250 municipalities were to attend the event, according to the Ministry of Ecology and WWF. In Paris, the lights of the Eiffel Tower were off for just five minutes for security reasons. Other Parisian monuments like the Arc de Triomphe and the Palais de l¡¯Elys¨¦e, were plunged into darkness for an hour.

The lights in Sweden has won the seat of government in Stockholm, Ericsson Globe-shaped golf ball and the famous resort of Are.

China has for the first time, participated in Earth Hour last year. This year, some 30 Chinese cities have turned off their lights, just after the extinction of light in more than 1,000 cities in the Philippines. The Philippine Catholic bishops took the event to call during prayers read over the radio, people to conserve natural resources.

In Moscow, the authorities hoped to break the record of the previous edition where over six million people had attended the event in a dozen cities across the country.

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