Inspired by Ecorazzi's gallery post earlier this week, we wanted to share with you some fabulous before-and-after photos from last year's Earth Hour that illustrate the dramatic affect that switching the lights off can have on major monuments and city views.

Featured here are some of the most impressive photos from last year of the Egyptian Pyramids and Sphinx; the Birds Nest stadium in Beijing; the waterways of Kuwait City; the Las Vegas strip; London's Victoria Square; Royce Hall in Los Angeles; Nashville; New York City Hall; San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge; and Vatican City.

This year, thousands of cities in more than 115 countries will participate in Earth Hour including Athens, Dubai, Hong Kong, Moscow, Sydney, Tel Aviv, Toronto, New York, London, Beijing, and Amman.

On the night of this year's Earth Hour we'll need your help to capture these unique photos again. Check out this post here for more information or follow these easy steps to share your Earth Hour experience with the world:

Photos

1. Upload your photos to your own Flickr account

2. Join our group: http://flickr.com/groups/eh2010

3. Add your photos to the group

4. To help us identify where they come from, please name and tag the photos with:

'Earth Hour, Earth Hour 2010, your city, your country'

Videos

1. Upload your videos to your own YouTube account

2. Add your videos to http://www.youtube.com/group/earthhourglobal

3. To help us identify where they come from, please name and tag the videos with:

'Earth Hour, Earth Hour 2010, your city, your country'

Tweets and Blog Posts

Let us know what is happening in your area and what you are doing on the night on Twitter and, if you have one, on your own blog.  Use #earthhour for your tweets and tag your blog posts ‘earth hour’ so that we can easily find your posts. Follow @earthhour on Twitter to receive updates from around the globe across the duration of Earth Hour.

By following these steps, you can easily share your Earth Hour experience with the rest of the world and truly be a part of the greatest mass participation event in history.

[image credit: WWF]

(download)

Click here to download:

Before_and_After.zip (767 KB)