Landmarks from the Sydney Opera House to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco plan to turn off their lights for the event, pioneered by Australia last year.

Organizers of “Earth Hour” say the idea is to make people aware of the links between global warming and electricity, which is usually generated by burning fossil fuels such as coal and oil which emit greenhouse gases. They say 24 large cities around the world are taking part. Last year 2.2 million Sydney residents switched off the lights.

Meanwhile, Environment Canada Senior Climatologist David Phillips is taking over for Wiarton Willie, saying Canada's famous weather prognosticating groundhog got it wrong when he predicted only six more weeks of winter on Feb. 2.

Phillips says the six more weeks of winter actually started last Wednesday, according to current Environment Canada climate models. Source...