Blog cross-posted from: HERE
For those of you who don’t know, tonight from 8:30 to 9:30 people people from all around the globe are going to be turning off their lights in a symbolic gesture. There are also going to be many businesses, cities, and countries turning off the lights in the buildings and facilities they control to send a message. I even heard McDonalds is going to be dimming all of its M signs. This is supposed to represent a message that people want there to be action on the issue of climate change. While Earth Hour was of a decent size last year, this year it appears that there’s going to be a massive upswing in participation, which is a good thing considering the distractions going on around us right now like the economy.
However, I do have some reservations about Earth Hour, and whether or not this is the best way to send a message. Two issues factor into that consideration. One is that the message could easily be misconstrued that the only way to stop climate change and cut back on energy usage is to live in the dark, even though that’s far from the truth. The other is that while turning off your lights for an hour is nice, I’m of the opinion there are more productive things to do regarding the climate movement, even in only an hour. What if during that hour, hundreds of millions of people all sat down and wrote letters to their local, state, and national politicians telling them that action on climate change is a priority, and that in future elections it will be on their minds?
