Focus: Turn off lights for Earth Hour

    BEIJING, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Lights went out at landmark buildings and homes across the world on Saturday for Earth Hour 2009, part of a global initiative to highlight the threat of climate change.

    Time zone by time zone, some 4,000 cities and towns in 88 countries and regions joined the global event initiated by the World Wildlife Fund to dim nonessential lights from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

    With diesel generators switched off, the one-hour lights off campaign officially began on the Chatham Islands, a small chain some 800 km east of New Zealand.

    New Zealand became one of the first countries to switch off the power. Auckland's Sky Tower, the Beehive (parliament building) in Wellington and Christchurch's Cathedral Square were some of the country's landmarks taking part.

    In Antarctica, New Zealand's 26-member winter team at Scott Base, where temperatures are close to minus 30 degrees Celsius, shut down to minimum safety lighting and switched off all unnecessary appliances and computers.

    In Sydney, famous harbor landmarks of Sydney Opera House and the arch-like Harbor Bridge were plunged into darkness on Saturday night, with tens of thousands of residents and businesses also turning their lights off for the global event.

    "We need massive change - one hour in terms of change is not that much," the Australian Associated Press reported, quoting Earth Hour director Andy Ridley.

    The campaign then went west. Lights at landmarks in South Korea, China, India, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines were dimmed as people celebrated with candle-lit picnics and concerts.

    In Beijing, the iconic "Bird's Nest" National Stadium and "Water Cube," the most prominent 2008 Olympic venues usually illuminated by floodlights, went dark at 8:30 p.m., while dozens of hotels, office buildings, shopping malls and restaurants in the capital also switched some lights off.

    From residents of the north Indian city of Shimla to south India's small organization called the Kerela Sahitya Parishad, support for turning off the lights has been tremendous. At least 200,000 students from New Delhi and Mumbai alone have pledged their support, according to a WWF statement.

    In the Giza plateau in the western suburb of Cairo, the colorful lights on the giant Pyramids and Sphinx disappeared exactly at 8:30 p.m. local time.

    Besides the Pyramids and Sphinx, Bibliotheca Alexandria and sound and light shows in the southern Egyptian tourist cities of Luxor, Aswan and Abu Simbel also joined the event. "It is a pleasure to be part of the global event." Maged el-Deeb, general manager for marketing of the Misr Sound and Light Company, told Xinhua.

    In South Africa, Table Mountain was to be seen only by starlight for an hour.

    In London, the lights went off at the Houses of Parliament and the electronic billboard at Piccadilly Circus.

    In Paris, hundreds of monuments and buildings, from the Louvre and Notre Dame Cathedral to the Arc de Triomphe, all went dark. The lights on the Eiffel Tower were switched off for five minutes for safety reasons.

    Elsewhere across Europe, St Peter's Basilica in Rome and the Greek parliament in Athens all went dark.

    In Brazil, Latin America's largest country, more than 60 cities including several in the Amazon region took part in the event.

    In Rio de Janeiro, the iconic Christ the Redeemer statue was darkened, along with the beachfront of the Copacabana and a few other local sites.

    In the Chilean capital of Santiago, lights went off at banks, the city's communications tower and several government buildings, including the Presidential Palace where President Michelle Bachelet hosted a dinner for U.S. Vice President Joe Biden.

    In New York, lights in the landmark Empire State Building dimmed as clock struck 8:30 p.m. EST. As a symbolic action, the United Nations observed Earth Hour for the fist time at its headquarters and at other UN facilities around the world.

    UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in a video-taped address to mark the event, called Earth Hour "a way for the citizens of the world to send a clear message. They want action on climate change."

    "It promises to be the largest demonstration of public concern about climate change ever attempted," Ban said.

    Earth Hour first started in Sydney in 2007, with just 2.2 million Sydney siders taking part.