Opinions: Lights out

 published on Monday, March 31, 2008

We would like everyone to have kittens — lovable, adorable kittens.

Ideally, they would freely prance around the city indulging us in their fluffiness and precious little meows … and the cuteness would warm hearts everywhere … and the overall happiness of the world would be raised to unprecedented levels … and just like that, nobody would ever be sad again.

Oh, imagine the smiles — it would be positively splendid! What a statement that would make!

But see, here's the thing about that: By merely making a statement that we want everyone to be all starry-eyed about a kitten-filled life, nothing is really getting done.

We are not making a concerted effort to bring kittens, we just want them. That's it.
Hmm … sounds familiar. In the wake of the vaunted Earth Hour, we can't help but feel similarly empty.

Over the past few weeks, we noticed a swell of energy directed at getting us to turn out the lights at 8 p.m. for this now-passed Saturday night. The sponsoring organization, the World Wildlife Fund — the group hilariously in possession of the 'WWF' acronym after out-fighting a certain infamous pro wrestling federation — reached out to millions in hopes of making the evening skies dark and spreading awareness of global climate issues.

It happened. The skies looked a bit darker. But an hour later, things were back to normal. Just like that, the entire concept of Earth Hour is gone until March 29, 2009. Quite a lot of work for quite a little impact.

Cool. Because despite all the fanfare, we're not a whole lot better off today than we were Saturday afternoon. Is this really all we can do to better our world? If so, we really are screwed.

Granted, Earth Hour did make a bit of a difference. The 2008 event was epic in scale, with millions participating in hundreds of cities. No doubt, energy usage was reduced for that hour. In the media, its impact was likened to taking tens of thousands of cars off the road.

But, if we might suggest it, you know what else could have an impact like taking tens of thousands of cars off the road? Actually taking tens of thousands of cars off the road.

When it comes down to it, Earth Hour is, if anything, a one-hour, once-a-year celebration that will now serve to remind us just how little we're doing to help move matters along.

If these issues really make a difference to people, there is more that can be done — such as dimming lights nightly and expanding Earth Hour to a daily occurrence.
That nightly hour is available. Every day, PBS has the commitment to successfully have a NewsHour. Every day, TGI Friday's has the commitment to successfully provide a Happy Hour. If we are indeed as committed to our planet as we like other people to think we are, it shouldn't be so hard to follow in their footsteps and successfully have an Earth Hour every day too.

At the very least, it would make the entire concept of Earth Hour into something more than an overblown empty statement.