It's Lights Out for Earth Hour

Earth Hour is under way. The annual event in which cities around the world dim their lights for an hour at 8:30pm local time kicked off in Sydney, Australia, the Age reports. China's Bird's Nest stadium, London's Big Ben, the Eiffel Tower, the Vatican, and the Empire State Building will be among the big landmarks taking part.

Earth Hour was born in Sydney in 2007, and despite the global recession—which organizers thought might sink the demonstration—it’s going stronger than ever, the AP reports. The communal atmosphere created is “incredibly important this year because there is so much despair around,” said Earth Hour's executive director. (More Earth Hour stories.)