"GLAND, Switzerland -- A 24 hour-long wave of darkness will sweep around the globe as people and corporations turn out the lights from 8:30 to 9:30 pm local time on Saturday, March 27 to mark Earth Hour - sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund to promote effective climate change action.

New Zealand's Chatham Islands will be the first place to start Earth Hour - the South Pacific island of Samoa will end the sweep 24 hours later.

Calling it 'the greatest global action on climate change ever witnessed,' WWF says this year 3,100 cities in 121 countries on all seven continents have confirmed that they will turn off their lights for Earth Hour.

Participating cities include Athens, Bangkok, Cape Town, Delhi, Dubai, Geneva, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Manila, Moscow, Rome, Seoul, Singapore, Sydney, Tel Aviv, Toronto and Washington DC. First time Earth Hour cities include Stockholm and Hiroshima."

Environment News Service had the story March 25, 2010. [2]

See Also:

"One Hour Crowded with Messages" (Australian ABC) [3]