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In defense of Earth Hour<\/a> – <\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong>8:30PM this coming Saturday is the fifth annual Earth Hour event, which began in Sydney Australia in 2007.<\/p>\n I admit to my own personal ambivalence of Earth Hour: Does it send the right message? Does it really make any difference in pushing the public discourse forward about climate change? These questions can (and should) be asked of any such symbolic event.<\/p>\n I am encouraged by the emphasis this year of organizers to \u201cgo beyond the hour<\/a>,\u201d but understand many may remain dubious or find little use in such symbolism. Maybe you are one who’s just not a great fan of Earth Hour…<\/p>\n But I must take issue with an essay Ross McKitrick wrote explaining why he \u201cabhors\u201d Earth Hour. WattsUpWithThat<\/a> recently republished Earth Hour: A Dissent<\/em><\/a> <\/em>because Anthony Watts felt it deserved a \u201cwider audience.\u201d On that, we agree.<\/p>\n McKitrick has gained some notoriety as a climate scientist — oops, I mean as an economist — skeptical of the dangers of climate change. \u00a0His work in that regard, flawed as it might be<\/a>, is not the point here today.<\/p>\n If McKitrick wants to spend his time and energy \u201cabhorring\u201d Earth Hour, well, that\u2019s his privilege and right. Just as it is mine to consider his arguments for the basis of such loathing specious and ludicrous.<\/p>\n That Earth Hour is, at its core, merely a symbolic event is undisputed by anyone.\u00a0 Symbolism plays a vital and important role in civilization.\u00a0 As such, I suggest it is important to understand the intent and meaning of the symbolism before launching a condemnation of it.<\/p>\n Mckitrick begins with an explanation of the benefits of electricity (just in case you didn\u2019t know):<\/p>\n \u201cAbundant, cheap electricity has been the greatest source of human liberation in the 20th<\/sup> century,\u201d he writes, going on to explain how the human condition has been vastly improved through the \u201cproliferation of inexpensive and reliable electricity.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I have no quarrel with that. It is obvious that electricity has fundamentally transformed the lives of billions of people for the better, though McKitrick seems to assume that \u201ccheap, abundant electricity\u201d will continue unabated into the future as a matter of course. Considerations of sustainability are of no apparent consequence for McKitrick.<\/p>\n He thus goes off on a wild tangent, misappropriating the intent of Earth Hour in a mean-spirited diatribe that borders on the laughable.<\/p>\n \u201cThe whole mentality around Earth Hour demonizes electricity,\u201d he asserts. Huh? Is he serious? Where does McKitrick get that idea? How does turning off a light demonize electricity? Does conservation of a resource constitute demonization of it?<\/p>\n I find no suggestion from any message released from Earth Hour organizers that electricity is evil and should be \u201crepudiated.\u201d\u00a0 It seems it\u2019s just a figment of McKitrick\u2019s fervid imagination.<\/p>\n The accusations and ranting then becomes decidedly unfunny:<\/p>\n \u201cEarth Hour celebrates ignorance, poverty and backwardness. By repudiating the greatest engine of liberation it becomes an hour devoted to anti-humanism,\u201d he impugns wildly.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Indeed, it is Mckitrick\u2019s mischaracterization of Earth Hour that celebrates ignorance, including his own. It is he that promotes anti-humanism, backwardwardness, and poverty.<\/p>\n In his smug, willful ignorance, McKitrick assumes the intent is to \u201cshame\u201d people into \u201csitting in darkness for an hour\u201d that they should forsake the modern world for a return \u201cback to nature.\u201d<\/p>\n If McKitrick is ashamed, it is his own doing. It is disingenuous to put that motivation on Earth Hour. Such motivation or intent is proffered, expressed or implied, only by McKitrick himself.<\/p>\n If anything, it is an appeal to the common humanity that unites us, not \u201canti-humanism,\u201d that motivates organizers and participants of Earth Hour:<\/p>\n \u201cThe highlight of Earth Hour 2011 will see the world\u2019s most iconic landmarks go dark for one designated hour, as hundreds of millions of people transcend race, religion, culture, society, generation and geography, switching off their lights in a global celebration of their commitment to protect the one thing that unites us all \u2013 the planet.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The symbolism of a darkened hour is not to shame people into some return to brutish nature, but an act of unity and hope for the future.<\/p>\n Despite McKitrick\u2019s assertions, perhaps \u201canti-humanism\u201d rests in the rejection of science<\/a>, in resource exploitation that borrows against future generations (and whole generations of people now alive), and denying that even the most advanced and humanitarian society rests upon and depends on the nature from which we\u2019ve arisen — in the soil, water, and air upon which all life is based. The fruits of humanity\u2019s labor and ingenuity can only truly thrive in living with, if not in, nature. For McKitrick, nature is merely a place one visits.<\/p>\n McKitrick throws up a false dichotomy — one that serves little purpose in lighting the way toward a thriving and sustainable future.<\/p>\n Tom Schueneman is the founder and publisher of <\/em>GlobalWarmingisReal.com<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Related Story:\u00a0Earth Hour 2011: Join The World Turn Off Our Lights!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n
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