On March 26, 2011, thousands of UAE citizens and guests gathered at Burj Plaza in central Dubai with candles and lanterns to take part in the Earth Hour action with millions of people around the world.
For an entire hour, starting from 8:30 pm, the lighting of the main attractions and important sites of Dubai and Abu Dhabi was turned off.
Burj Khalifa, the tallest skyscraper in the world, was plunged into darkness for an hour; on the initiative of the Dubai Roads and Transport Committee (RTA), the lighting of some RTA offices was turned off. In addition, almost all hotels urged their guests to turn off the lights in their rooms and invited them to join the action by organizing romantic candlelit dinners in their restaurants and living rooms. Abu Dhabi Airports (ADAC) took part in the Earth Hour campaign in the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.
Abu Dhabi International Airport turned off lighting along some runways as well as along passenger terminals. Five other airports that are part of ADAC followed suit.
The Earth Hour action urged people around the world to temporarily abandon the unnecessary use of electricity. This event, held annually, aims to draw the attention of the public to the issues of saving natural resources and electricity, as well as to the ongoing environmental degradation and climate change on the planet. The initiators of the action sought to draw the attention of all people to the fact that every day we “burn” thousands of unnecessary kilowatts, and do not even think about the fact that we can completely do without them.
For the first time, Dubai took part in this action in 2008 - it was the first Arab city to celebrate Earth Hour with other countries. In 2010, 400 thousand people from the UAE took part in this action, and in 2011, not only the citizens of Dubai and Abu Dhabi joined the event, but also the residents of the emirates of Sharjah and Fujairah.
