Lights out for an hour (again)
Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald is running an ‘event’ of sorts they call Earth Hour.
Earth Hour is just the start of a campaign that aims to reduce Sydney’s greenhouse emissions by 5% in 2007. The event will demonstrate how simple actions can make the world of difference if everyone takes part. And it sends a powerful message that we care about the future of the planet.
The event is sponsored by the WWF, Qantas and Toyota and simply requires that you turn your lights off for an hour at 7.30pm local time. Now the more cynical amongst you would, and should, see a million little ironies in all of this. If these planet-friendly sponsors really gave a damn about the future of the Earth I imagine they could come up with something a little more original and dramatic. Who knows, maybe the power surge as millions of lights all flood back on at 8.30 will cause even more greenhouse gas emissions. Why not turn the damn lights off every night and leave them off? Do all those office towers really need to be lit up all night? Do you really need a new car? Is that flight necessary (I say having just flown from Sydney to London)? 5% is a pathetic nod at the real solution, a radical reduction in CO2 emissions.
The trouble with this is also that turning off the lights, even assuming the on-surge doesn’t cause an emissions spike, doesn’t actually remove any CO2 from the air, nor does it foster long-term change. It’s a publicity stunt designed to capitalise on the popular upsurge in climate change hysteria. All these people will turn their lights off and say to themselve “see, I am part of the solution,” as they watch the lights of Sydney go out on their new plasma-screen TVs. It’s a masturbatory orgy of self congratulation at best, and a shameless waste of time at worst. If you can turn the lights out for an hour for one night then maybe you can turn them off all night, every night. Honestly I’d prefer to see the money spent promoting this nonsense spent instead on encouraging people to drive less; then you’d see some genuine emissions reductions. — DS
Technorati Tags: Australia, blackout, business, climate change, emissions reduction, global warming, Earth Hour, WWF
