Last week, Times Square was home to an 8x8-foot roll of Marcal toilet paper. Today, visitors to the New York City neighborhood were greeted by a 12-foot Waterford crystal geodesic, which got lowered over the intersection of Broadway and 42nd street (shown), part of official Earth Day 2009 festivities in the city.

Dubbed the Earth Ball, the rotating sphere is powered by 32,256 Philips Luxeon Rebel LEDs and is supposed to use 10 to 20 percent less power than the ball that descended from 1 Times Square last New Year's Eve.

Denis Hayes, cofounder of Earth Day and a special guest speaker at the event, announced the launch of Green Generation, a year-long campaign to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day next April.—Daniel DiClerico | e-mail | Twitter