Click the photo and you’ll go to the Boston Globe’s Big Picture coverage of “Earth Hour”. The Times of London writes: “From the Sydney Harbour Bridge to Egypt’s pyramids, the Empire State Building in New York to Beijing’s Birds Nest Stadium, the landmarks of the world were plunged into darkness on Saturday night as an exercise in energy saving symbolism unfolded across the globe. As 8.30pm struck in each timezone, 4000 cities and towns in 88 countries switched off the lights to mark Earth Hour, a World Wildlife Fund sponsored campaign to highlight the threat of climate change. Starting with the Sky tower in Auckland, New Zealand, crowds gathered around the world’s most famous landmarks to see the lights dim. Two hours after NZ marked Earth Hour, Sydney’s Harbour Bridge and Opera House went dark, followed shortly afterwards by Hong Kong’s dazzling water front. In all, around 371 landmarks worldwide were due to switch their lights off, including the Eiffel Tower, Niagara Falls, the Las Vegas casino strip and the Houses of Parliament in the UK. Honololu was due to be the last country [sic] to flip the switch.”

In the country of Potomac, lights go out without fanfare. The power to lights and everything else goes out several times a year, for more than an hour, without need of anyone flipping a switch. It’s humiliating and makes momentary ascetics of us all. We are not in charge as much as we like to think we are. But I digress.