Switching to candle light: Russia goes dark for Earth Hour (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

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Published time: April 01, 2012 00:24
Edited time: April 01, 2012 20:29

Moscow’s celebration of the day was centered at Vorobyovy Gory (Sparrow Hills) (RIA Novosti/Andrey Popov)

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Ecology, Natural resources, Russia

With the planet turning out the lights in a symbolic Earth Hour event, some 15 million Russians observed it this year, its organizers claim. This is about 40 per cent more than the previous year.

Moscow’s celebration of the day was centered at Vorobyovy Gory (Sparrow Hills), which is located near the campus of the Moscow State University in the city’s southwest.

Thanks to its elevation, it has a spectacular view of the capital’s skyline, so observers were able to clearly see a total of 75 famous structures in Moscow going dark. Those include Luzhniki Stadium just across the Moskva River, Moscow City Hall, several high-standing Stalinist buildings known collectively as the Seven Sisters, (including the university’s central facility), several bridges and Moscow’s Academy of Sciences, among others.

A spectacular celebration took place on the hills themselves, with a fire show, the launch of hundreds of sky lanterns and a laser show.

St. Petersburg’s contribution to Earth Hour was centered at the city’s main Palace Square. The city shut down lighting for the famous bridges across the Neva River, the Winter Palace, Peter and Paul’s Fortress, the Central Naval Museum and other buildings.

Being stretched across nine time zones certainly doesn't hurt Russia during Earth Hour. Whatever risks the sudden changes in power consumption may have are mitigated by the sheer size of Russia’s power grid.

The dimming of lights is a symbolic gesture, calling on people to seek a better balance between humanity’s desire for consumption and the planet’s ability to sustain it.

This year’s Earth Hour is the sixth consecutive event to take place worldwide.

Moscow State University (RIA Novossti/Vitaly Belousov)

Shabolovskaya TV tower, Moscow (RIA Novosti/Maksim Blinov)

Kievsky Railway Station, Moscow (RIA Novosti / Vladimir Astapkovich)

Radisson Royal Hotel (former Ukraina Hotel), Moscow (RIA Novosti / Ilya Pitalev)

Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow (RIA Novosti / Vitaly Belousov)

Comments (5)

LaLouisa 07.07.2012 09:37

I wanna wrote in #3 I wanna visit the soviet union. Me too! Me too! Very close to the top of my list of things to do before I die is to see the new Bolshoi Ballet and those beautiful buildings in Moscow. I'd also like to know how 'the-man-in-the-stre et' feels about the world and Mr Putin. I sense a feeling of passionate ascent from Russia. A new freedom that cares about the environment - not rushing regardless into capitalist consumption. I hope this is not an illusion. Europe and Russia have so much historical connection, certainly more than we have with USA! Checking history, it was not always bad. I love (what I know) of the new, post-communist Russia. Although the original ideas of communism had some beauty, it would seem globally, that the consensus is that it is unworkable - it seems to remove a lot of incentive. Maybe all ideologies are unworkable due to the small percentage in every population who want to grab all the pies all the time. I don't know and I mostly get my info from R.T., but it would seem to me that Russia is one of the greatest of countries with the keys to the future of mankind. What a relief that they care about the planet. People like to dismiss Mr Putin as just KGB, but I think he loves his country, his people and that he is one of the smartest world leaders we have today.

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RMB 01.04.2012 12:45

We might have to get used to darkness after the west botches its invasion of Iran. Obama is insisting that the energy demand can be met without Iranian oil, but when was the last time he was right about anything?

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I wanna 01.04.2012 11:29

I wanna visit the soviet union.

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