26 major cities around the world are predictable to turn off the lights on major marker, plunging millions of people into darkness to raise alertness about global warming, organizers said. “Earth Hour” founder Andy Ridley said 371 cities, towns or local governments from Australia to Canada and even Fiji had signed up for the 60-minute shutdown at 1430 IST on March 29. “There are definitely 26 (cities) that we believe, if it all goes to plan, we are going to observe a major happening of lights going off,”

Switching the lights off for an hour is not going to make a dent in global releases organizer Charles Stevens, of the environmental group WWF, told media. While no cities from China or India are involved this year, Stevens said it was hoped that the movement would get bigger in 2009, which he said would be a particularly noteworthy year given that it is the deadline for United Nations talks to determine future action on climate change after the Kyoto Protocol. Cities officially signed on comprise Chicago and San Francisco, Dublin, Manila, Bangkok, Copenhagen and Toronto, all of which will switch off lights on major landmarks and hearten businesses and homeowners to follow suit.

Ridley said it was also likely that other major European cities such as Rome and London, and the South Korean capital Seoul, although not officially taking part, would turn off lights on some attractions or landmarks. The initiative began in Sydney last year and has become a global occasion, sweeping across 35 countries this year. From 8:00 pm local time in Sydney, the energy-saving campaign will see harbourside icon such as the Sydney Harbor Bridge and the Opera House bathed only in moonlight, eating place diners eat by candlelight and city skyscrapers turn off their neon signs.