Earth Hour

I am not really sure what to make of all this hoopla about saving the planet and raising awareness with this latest idea called Earth Hour. In case you missed it, there was a call for everyone to turn off lights and reduce energy consumption between 8 and 9 PM local time on Saturday. Very symbolic on many levels.

First level: At least it got people to reduce their energy consumption! You would think that the "savings" would be around 4-5% for the day, but this is probably optimistic. Although some energy, such as light bulbs, are truly saved, others such as heating or transportation are merely deferred to another time.

Second level: I fear it confuses the majority of people who equate symbolic gestures with solutions. turning out the lights for an hour is not a solution; it is a gesture. Buying a red coloured product is not a solution to AIDS in Africa. Neither is wearing a ribbon of any colour (pick your cause). these are all gestures. They may be worthwhile gestures, but they are most certainly not solutions or even concrete action towards a solution.

Third level: Given what I said above, it is obvious that anyone who really thinks that turning out the lights, burning candles and singing "Kumbaya" is the solution, is truly "in the dark" about a great many things.

My take: Because people confuse gestures and solutions, Earth Hour is not going to fundamentally change people's behaviour. Rather, it will be used as an excuse for their waste the rest of the 8,759 hours a year. "It's OK if I keep my house at 25C all winter - I observe Earth Hour!". Instead, it is going to take a lot of hard talk from our leaders, as well as substantially higher energy prices, before people change their energy consumption habits. I laugh every time I see an SUV with a "For Sale" sign on it. See what $1.15 per litre of gas will do?

BTW, did anyone take into account the CO2 emissions of the candles?!?!