SYDNEY, Australia - Twelve cities around the world, including Toronto, have agreed to darken their skylines for an hour as part of an Australian initiative to raise awareness about climate change, organizers said Friday.
Sydney, which was plunged into near-darkness when millions of people switched off non-essential lights for the inaugural "Earth Hour'' event this year, will be joined next year by 11 cities in North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific, environmental group WWF Australia said in a statement.
The CN Tower in Toronto and Chicago's Sears Tower could be among thousands of skyscrapers that switch off their lights at 8:00 p.m. local time March 29, 2008, after those two cities agreed to join the initiative.
Other major cities that have signed on include Copenhagen, Tel Aviv, Manila and Melbourne, Australia.
The Danish cities Aalborg, Aarhus and Odense, Fiji's capital Suva and the eastern Australian city Brisbane have also agreed to participate.
Organizers said they are still recruiting cities to sign up for "Earth Hour,'' which aims to raise awareness about the link between electricity usage and carbon-dioxide emissions that cause climate change.
"To the cities that haven't committed yet -- the planet needs your help,'' WWF Australia's chief executive Greg Bourne said in a statement.
"Reducing the world's emissions is a shared responsibility. Each city must commit to reducing its carbon output and every single person, business and community should take it upon themselves to participate.''
In March this year, the normally gleaming white sails of the Sydney Opera House darkened, as did the arch of the city's iconic Harbour Bridge, big chunks of the downtown skyline and countless homes in the city of four million in a gesture of concern about global warming.
Sydney was not the first city to cut the lights for conservation. In February, Paris and other parts of France dimmed the lights for five minutes in a similar gesture. Rome, Athens and San Francisco have also held similar events.
