Nasa satelite image shows the amount of light pollution in the world / AFP Source: Getty Images
The Empire State Building, the Houses of Parliament and the Eiffel Tower all went dark / AFP Source: Getty Images
Sydney Harbour Bridge before the big switch-off / Getty Images Source: Getty Images
And after / Getty Images Source: Getty Images
SYDNEY Opera House fell into darkness last night as millions of lights were switched off across Australia, kicking off a global energy-saving marathon.
Homes and businesses killed their lights at 8.30pm (AEDT) for Earth Hour in an effort to lower the planet's carbon footprint and raise awareness of the environment.
In Sydney, harbour ferry horns blared to signal the rolling event, which began in New Zealand and will wrap up 25 hours later in Apia, Samoa, at 6.30pm (AEDT) on Sunday.
Earth Hour executive director Andy Ridley said: "I'm so amazed that people take part on the scale that they do and enjoy it, because that's what it's about.
"What we're still looking for in this coming year is a global deal that encourages all countries to lower their emissions and China is going to have to be a big part of that but so is every other major economy."
In December, two weeks of UN talks in Copenhagen failed to produce a binding commitment to limit global warming or set out concrete plans for doing so, in a setback for the environmental movement.
But commitment to change still exists at a grassroot level.
Earth Hour is supported by 4000 cities in a record 125 countries. It also includes 1200 landmarks, among them the Pyramids, the Tower of Pisa and the Eiffel Tower.
For the first time, the Forbidden city in Beijing is also be taking part, along with 20 cities across China, despite the country's resistance at Copenhagen.
Earth Hour began in Sydney in 2007 when 2.2 million people switched off the lights in their homes, offices and businesses for 60 minutes to make a point about electricity consumption and carbon pollution.
The campaign went global the following year, and it has now harnessed support from a raft of multinational companies including Google, Coca-Cola, Hilton, McDonalds, Canon, HSBC and IKEA.
The campaign shows a good start in leading the world in an earth-saving mission. However, what I realised in INTI last night was that most of the Intians didn't switch off their lights to support the Earth Hour campaign. Hopefully in the following years, this campaign will keep on going throughout the world, spreading the message to make humans aware of the worsening global warming.
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