The ninth annual global Earth Hour event to highlight climate change kicked off in Samoa.
Each year, participants turn off all the lights in their homes for one hour between 8.30pm and 9.30pm local time. WWF describes this as "the symbolic act of lights off around the world to inspire and unite people behind a common purpose."
More than 1200 landmarks - including the Eiffel Tower, Golden Gate Bridge and the Acropolis in Athens - organised to participate.
The event also aims to raise money for environmental projects as well as awareness about the threat of climate change.
This year, Earth Hour-related action includes a 100,000-name petition against oil exploration in the Russian Arctic and a project to reduce the use of firewood in Uganda. There are also crowd-funded climate-resilience projects happening in India, Indonesia, Colombia and Portugal.
Ambassadors for the event include UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and global celebrities like British singer Chris Martin, Italian designer Giorgio Armani, US actor Edward Norton and Taiwanese singer, dancer and actress Jolin Tsai.
In Australia, always one of the first countries to hit 8.30pm on the day, this year's theme is the impact of climate change on farming with some 300 community events held across the nation in addition to the stay-at-home plans of thousands of others.
Two places not darkened were the Sofitel hotel in Sydney's CBD and the Dooley's club in western Sydney, where the Liberal and Labor parties held their respective NSW election night functions.
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