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Earth fever takes hold across globe

Date: March 28 2009

EARTH HOUR is about to sweep around the world in what the United Nations is calling "the largest demonstration of public concern about climate change ever attempted".

The event, which started in Sydney two years ago, will see well over 3000 cities and towns in more than 90 countries switch off their lights for an hour this year. Hundreds of millions of people are expected to take part.

From the international dateline, Earth Hour starts in New Zealand's Chatham Islands this afternoon and will conclude in Honolulu tomorrow night (Sydney time).

In between, tens of millions of houses and public buildings will dim their lights to call for an effective global deal to cut greenhouse gas emissions. More than 10,000 street parties are planned. Sydney's turn comes at 8.30 tonight.

The Harbour Bridge and the Opera House will be joined by a list of world monuments that reads like a Lonely Planet guide.

In the US, the Empire State Building will dim its lights, along with Sears Tower in Chicago, San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge and the lights of the casino strip in Las Vegas. In Canada, lights at Niagara Falls and Toronto's CN Tower will be turned off.

Most major European cities are taking part. In Paris, the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe have signed up for Earth Hour, while in Rome the lights of the Colosseum and the dome of St Peter's will be switched off, along with the Acropolis in Athens. Scores of towns and cities in Britain have embraced Earth Hour, and at 8.30pm local time lights will go out in Big Ben's clock tower, the London Eye, Edinburgh Castle and Cardiff's Millenium Stadium.

Across Asia, dozens of major cities are joining in, including Hong Kong, Manila, Singapore and Bangkok. The Bird's Nest stadium in Beijing will turn off its lights along with the rest of the city's public buildings. In Kuala Lumpur, the giant Petronas Towers will take part.

In Brazil many cities and towns have signed up, including Rio de Janeiro where lights illuminating the statue of Christ on Corcovado will be switched off. Lights at the pyramids in Egypt will be dimmed, too.

Cities turning off their lights include Cape Town, Mexico City, Moscow, Mumbai and Istanbul.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, has backed the event, which is organised by WWF Australia with the support of Fairfax Media, publisher of the Herald.

Mr Ban said it was the biggest climate change demonstration ever attempted, and urged people around the world to pressure their governments to take decisive action to cut gas emissions. "Earth Hour is a way for the citizens of the world to send a clear message - they want action on climate change," he said in his videotaped Earth Hour address.

He said Earth Hour should be seen as a message to politicians meeting in Copenhagen to agree to a global deal for action.


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