Every March around 180 countries plunge into pitch darkness for an hour and not without a cause. Grassroots environmentalists, schools, offices and those responsible for some of the world’s most iconic landmarks switch off lights in a symbolic call for more action on climate change.

Having started as a symbolic lights-out event in Sydney in 2007, Earth Hour is now celebrated in more than 180 countries and territories as a global moment of solidarity for the planet.

The impact has created ripples in all platforms and in every section of the society. Online, #EarthHour and related terms last year generated over 3.5 billion impressions in the run-up to Earth Hour, trending in at least 30 countries worldwide on the night.

The movement not just has spread immense awareness about the ill effects of globalization but also with an hour of darkness has saved much energy cumulatively. As global biodiversity declines at an unprecedented rate, Earth Hour will focus its efforts on galvanizing mainstream support for action on biodiversity and nature.

This year, the WWF, which manages the initiative, hopes to build on its growing success and says millions of actions will be taken in at least 180 countries and territories. A record 187 countries took part in the event’s record-breaking 10th year.

Offcourse, an hour of action is not going to save the world, but the message that it sends with the action in unison, the message tha every action counts and ever individual share the onus of saving the planet earth and has the responsibility to do their bit, change the way we think has a huge impact on the planet in later course.

The WWF says highlights of its pushes for new legislation include the banning of all plastics in the Galapagos in 2014, planting 17 million trees in Kazakhstan and pushing new laws for the protection of seas and forests in Russia.

Supporters visited connect2earth.org to share what biodiversity and nature mean to them in the places they live in and find out more about it. Created in partnership with the Secretariat of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, the platform aims to build mass awareness on the values of biodiversity and nature by kick-starting global conversations on issues such as climate action, healthy oceans, and sustainable business.

Every reader had their own unique way to support the cause. Some pledged to abstain from using plastic cutlery when eating out and some persuaded his parents not to use the car

Germany’s Federal Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety with funding from the International Climate Initiative is a major partner of WWF in this massive effort.

Earth Hour is largely symbolic, but it gets people thinking about the environment and what they can do personally. It forces us to consider our own impact on the environment and our own responsibility. Governments and big companies have the power to do more, but this does not absolve us of responsibility.

By holding the dinner party and asking some of my guests to make a plastic-free pudding, we have all become more aware of how plastic surrounds almost everything we buy. I now look at my shopping in a different way and I hope that other people will do so too.