TORONTO -- Canadians will be joining people around the world tonight in turning off their lights to mark Earth Hour.
Earth Hour was started in Australia in 2007 as a way to draw attention to environmental issues like climate change.
It has grown to a worldwide event involving 162 countries.
The main organizer, the World Wildlife Fund, is asking people to turn off their lights at 8:30 p.m. local time.
The event has been embraced by Canadian utilities, with many devoting space on their websites to the annual event.
B.C. Hydro, for example, noted that for Earth Hour last year British Columbians reduced the provincial electricity load by one per cent -- the equivalent of turning off about 1.4 million lights.
