Twenty-four cities around the world will fall into shadow next month as homes and businesses turn off the lights to raise awareness¹ about global warming, organizers said Tuesday.

The "Earth Hour" initiative started in Australia's biggest city Sydney last year when an estimated 2.2 million people flicked² the switch -- leaving the Sydney Opera House bathed in moonlight and the Harbour Bridge blacked out.

Organizer Andy Ridley said Sydney's 60-minutes of darkness generated huge interest around the world and 23 other cities from the Asia Pacific, North America, Europe and the Middle East had now signed up to be part of the 2008 event.

The eight latest cities to join "Earth Hour" are Atlanta, San Francisco and Phoenix³ in the US; Thailand's capital Bangkok; Ottawa, Vancouver and Montreal in Canada and Dublin in Ireland.

They join Australian cities Sydney, Perth, Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane, Adelaide; Denmark's Copenhagen, Aarhus, Aalborg and Odense; the Philippine capital Manila, Fiji's biggest city Suva, Christchurch in New Zealand; Chicago; Tel Aviv and Toronto.

Ridley said he expected the "Earth Hour" concept, which is managed by the conservation group WWF, to extend beyond the borders of these countries on the scheduled start time of 8:00 pm local time on Saturday March 29.

"I think it already has become much bigger," he said.

"The idea was that anyone could do it, whether they were in a small village in France or a city like Sydney."

Ridley said the Sydney event, in which residents were asked to switch off lights and appliances for one hour, had raised awareness about the problem of global warming while reducing greenhouse gas emissions⁴ by conserving⁵ energy.

"I know that on the night we thought we might be able to cut energy use in the city by five percent but it ended up being 10.1 percent," he said.

He said he hoped Earth Hour provided a "very big visual message" to politicians that climate change must be addressed quickly.

"The problem is massive but we do make a difference when we all take action," he said.

活动组织者于本周二称，全球24个城市将于下个月“陷入黑暗”。因为这些城市的家庭和企业届时将集体熄灯，以引起人们对全球变暖问题的关注。

“地球一小时”活动于去年在澳大利亚最大的城市悉尼首次举行。当时全市约有220万居民集体熄灯，没有灯光的悉尼歌剧院沐浴在月光里，海湾大桥也熄灯响应。

活动组织者安迪• 里德利说，悉尼的“熄灯一小时”活动引起了世界各国的极大兴趣。目前，亚太、北美、欧洲以及中东地区的23个城市已报名参加今年的活动。

最新响应的八个城市包括：美国的亚特兰大、旧金山和菲尼克斯、泰国首都曼谷、加拿大的渥太华、温哥华和蒙特利尔，以及爱尔兰的都柏林。

此外，参与该活动的城市还包括：澳大利亚的悉尼、柏斯、墨尔本、堪培拉、布里斯班、阿德莱德，丹麦的哥本哈根、阿胡斯、奥尔堡和欧登塞，菲律宾首都马尼拉，斐济最大的城市苏瓦，新西兰的基督城；芝加哥；特拉维夫以及多伦多。

由“世界自然基金会”发起的“地球一小时”活动计划于当地时间3月29日晚八点准时开始。里德利表示，他希望这一理念能越过国界，影响更多的国家。

他说：“现在这个活动的影响已经扩大了很多。”

“其实每个人都能做到这件事，无论你在法国的一个小乡村还是在像悉尼这样的大城市。”

瑞德里说，悉尼的“熄灯一小时”活动在节能减排的同时，提高了人们对全球变暖问题的关注意识。活动当天，悉尼市民被要求关闭电灯和电器一小时。

他说：“我知道，大家以为当晚的活动可能会节约5%的能源，但实际上我们节约了10.1%的能源。”

瑞德里表示，他希望“地球一小时”活动能向政界人士传递一个“具有很强冲击力的视觉信息”，让他们意识到治理气候变化刻不容缓。

他说：“这个问题的确严重，但当我们集体行动时，结果就不一样了。”

Vocabulary: 

black out:熄灯