Earth goes dark for green glory

Sydney: Lights went out at Sydney's Opera House and Harbour Bridge yesterday for Earth Hour 2009, a global event in which landmarks and homes go dark for an hour to highlight the threat from climate change.

In Asia, lights at landmarks in China, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines also dimmed as people celebrated with candle-lit picnics and concerts.

"It's been a great success. I wasn't expecting so many people to come down and witness the blackout of the CBD," Carine Seror, Singapore Earth Hour campaign manager for global environment group WWF, told Reuters.

Buildings in Singapore's business district went dark along with major landmarks such as the Singapore Flyer, or giant observation wheel.

Australia first held Earth Hour in 2007 and it went global in 2008, attracting the involvement of 50 million people, organisers say. WWF, which started the event, is hoping one billion people will take part this year.

"The primary reason we do it is because we want people to think, even if it is for an hour, what they can do to lower their carbon footprint, and ideally take that beyond the hour," Earth Hour executive director Andy Ridley told reporters at Sydney's Bondi Beach.

Nearly 90 countries are taking part this year, some for the first time, including China, which has overtaken the United States as the world's top greenhouse gas emitter.

Organisers said several new countries signed up in the hours before the event, which aims to encourage people to cut their energy use and curb greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels.

In the Vatican, the dome of St Peter's Basilica went dark, as did Egypt's Great Pyramids, the Eiffel Tower in Paris and New York's Empire State Building. Other global landmarks that switched off the lights included the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, the London Eye and the Bird's Nest Stadium in Beijing. Organisers said the remote Chatham Islands was the first place where supporters turned the lights off for an hour at 8:30pm, followed by New Zealand and Fiji.

Lights at Sydney's Opera House and Harbour Bridge were switched off at 8:30pm (0930 GMT) to the sound of horns on the harbour, with supporters holding candle-lit dinners to watch the event.