First cities go dark for Earth Hour

The shells of Sydney's iconic Opera House were illuminated as usual before 8p.m. Saturday night before they went dark to mark this year's Earth Hour, held to raise awareness of climate change.

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- The iconic Opera House and Harbour Bridge went dark Saturday night as Sydney became the world's first major city to turn off its lights for this year's Earth Hour, a global campaign to raise awareness about climate change.

Thousands of homes were dark for an hour in Christchurch, New Zealand. The famed Wat Arun Buddhist temple in Bangkok, Thailand switched off its lights.

The three major cities were among 23 worldwide, along with 300 smaller towns, taking part in Earth Hour -- a campaign by environmental group WWF to highlight the need to conserve energy and fight global warming. full story