Lights went out at tourism landmarks and homes across the planet last night for Earth Hour 2009, a global event designed to highlight the threat from climate change.
Time zone by time zone, up to one billion people in nearly 4,000 cities and towns in 88 countries joined the event sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund to dim nonessential lights from 8.30pm to 9.30pm.
From the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge to the Eiffel Tower in Paris and London's Houses of Parliament, lights were dimmed as part of the campaign to encourage people to cut energy use and curb greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels.
In Ireland, buildings including the Custom House, Government Buildings and Leinster House had their lights switched off for an hour. Lights were also turned off at locations such as the Rock of Cashel, and at Cahir, Trim and Donegal Castle.
Green Party leader and Minister for the Environment John Gormley said he hoped people would make a permanent change in the way they use energy. “By doing your bit and not wasting energy every day, you can also save hundreds of euro a year, " he said.
Tony Lowes of Friends of the Irish Environment, who introduced Earth Hour to Ireland last year and who coordinated the event again this year, said that while the response in Ireland had been unprecedented, nothing had changed. "After the euphoria of last night, it's really hard today to face again into the huge job we have to make our politicians and business leaders take the extreme actions that are needed more urgently every day."
Organisers said the action showed millions of people wanted governments to work out a strong new UN deal to fight global warming by the end of 2009, even though the global economic crisis has raised worries about the costs.
"We have been dreaming of a new climate deal for a long time," Kim Carstensen, head of a global climate initiative at the conservation group WWF, said in a candle-lit bar in the German city of Bonn, which hosts UN climate talks that begin today.
"Now we're no longer so alone with our dream. We're sharing it with all these people switching off their lights," he said as delegates and activists sipped bluish cocktails.
The UN Climate Panel says greenhouse gas emissions are warming the planet and will lead to more floods, droughts, heatwaves, rising sea levels and animal and plant extinctions.
World emissions have risen by about 70 per cent since the 1970s. China has recently overtaken the United States as the top emitter, ahead of the European Union, Russia and India.
The UN Climate Panel says rich nations will have to cut their emissions to a level between 25 and 40 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020 to avoid the worst effects of warming. Developing nations will also have to slow the rise of their emissions by 2020, it says.
Australia first held Earth Hour in 2007 and it went global in 2008, attracting 50 million people, organisers say. WWF hoped one billion people from 88 countries would 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.
In Asia, lights at landmarks in China, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines were dimmed as people celebrated with candle-lit picnics and concerts. Buildings in Singapore's business district went dark along with major landmarks such as the Singapore Flyer, a giant observation wheel.
Other global landmarks that switched off their lights included the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, the Reserve Bank in Mumbai, the dome of St Peter's Basilica in Rome, Egypt's Great Pyramids and the Acropolis in Athens.