90 countries take part in Earth Hour SYDNEY: Lights went out at Sydney's Opera House and Harbour Bridge on Saturday for Earth Hour 2009, a global event in which landmarks and homes go dark for an hour to highlight the threat from climate change. Lights at landmarks in China. Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines dimmed as people celebrated. Australia first held Earth Hour in 2007 and it went global in 2008, attracting the involvement of 50 million people, organisers say. WWF, which started the event, is hoping one billion people will take part this year. "The primary reason we do it is because we want people to think, even if it is for an hour, what they can do to lower their carbon footprint, and ideally take that beyond the hour," said Earth Hour executive director Andy Ridley. Nearly 90 countries are taking part this year, some, such as China, for the first time. In the Vatican, the dome of St. Peter's Basilica will go dark. as will Egypt's Great Pyramids, the Eiffel Tower in Paris and New York's Empire State Building. Organisers are calling Earth Hour a "global election", with switching off the lights a vote for the Earth and failure to do so a vote for global warming. -- Reuters