From the Post-Gazette:

Pittsburgh will be a little bit darker on March 28 at 8:30 p.m., if City Councilman William Peduto has his way.

Mr. Peduto is leading a push to make the city a major participant in Earth Hour, a global effort to get people and institutions to turn off the lights for 60 minutes and think about energy conservation.

The third-annual event is “a call to stand up and take control over the future of our planet,” according to the Earth Hour Web site.

Council will start the process today with a resolution encouraging everyone in the city to turn off the lights at the appointed time. Mr. Peduto sent letters last week to universities, health institutions, museums and Downtown property owners, some of which have already signed on.

Last year an estimated 50 million people worldwide turned off their lights for Earth Hour, and the effort’s organizers hope to get 1 billion people to go dark this year.