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San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge turned off all but essential lights, and tourist monuments briefly went missing from the skyline, while Twitter and Facebook set up applications to let screens darken for an hour.<\/p>\n
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The annual dimming of lights was hailed by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon as “both a warning and a beacon of hope.”<\/p>\n
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“As we watch the lights go out from continent to continent, let us reflect on the fragility and importance of our natural heritage and pledge to protect it for a sustainable future for all,” said the U.N. chief.<\/p>\n
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“From Brazil to America, to Canada, all the way down to Australia, Japan and India—it’s a really diverse set of countries taking part this year,” said Earth Hour Executive Director Andy Ridley.<\/p>\n
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New Zealand’s Chatham Islands officially started the energy-saving demonstration, switching off its diesel generators to leave just 12 street lamps burning. Sydney’s iconic harbor and opera house went dark to the sound of blaring ferry horns.<\/p>\n
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In Beijing, the Forbidden City joined in. In Dubai, the world’s tallest building, the recently opened Burj Khalifa, had its lights switched off.<\/p>\n
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Egypt participated as well, with lights turned off at the Giza plateau, plunging the three Great Pyramids, the Sphinx, and the surrounding desert into total darkness.<\/p>\n
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North America’s tallest building, the 110-floor Willis Tower, led a mass switch-off in Chicago, where more than than 200 buildings joined the campaign to save energy. “By participating in the symbolic event of Earth Hour, we show that, together, we can collectively make a difference to protect and preserve the environment,” said Chicago Mayor Richard Daley.<\/p>\n
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Earth Hour started in 2007 in Sydney and enjoys widespread support from the public and big business, including Google, Coca-Cola, and McDonald’s.<\/p>\n
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But some cities and icons could not or would not join in.<\/p>\n
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In Bangkok, city authorities were ordered to halt their Earth Hour campaign for security reasons as anti-government protesters held a major rally.<\/p>\n
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In Europe, London’s Big Ben turned off its lights and the bank of neon advertisements in Piccadilly Circus went dark. It is thought to be only the fourth time since World War II that the huge Coca-Cola sign there has been dimmed. But some onlookers said the city should have gone further.<\/p>\n
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“I thought it was going to be the whole of Piccadilly and it’s just the screens. It should have been all the lights and all the buildings around here,” said Sandra Herrera, 23, visiting from Bilbao, Spain.<\/p>\n
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More than 240 buildings and monuments in Paris participated in Earth Hour, but the Eiffel Tower only went dark for five minutes.<\/p>\n
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In New York, the landmark Empire State and Chrysler building turned off their lights, as did United Nations headquarters on East River. But Times Square’s hoardings remained a beacon of commercial excess. “It was disappointing,” commented Melodie Carli, a 20-year-old French national in Times Square. “We came here especially to see the event.”<\/p>\n
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