So Earth Hour came and went. Technically, I did participate in Earth Hour, since I was in a movie cinema during that time and all around me the lights were off 
.
Anyway, when I first heard about Earth Hour, it brought back fond memories of seeing emails like the one below making the rounds a few years ag0 (quoted from Snopes):
It has been calculated that if everyone in the United States and Canada did not purchase a drop of gasoline for one day and all at the same time, the oil companies would choke on their stockpiles.
At the same time it would hit the entire industry with a net loss of over 4.6 billion dollars which affects the bottom lines of the oil companies.
Therefore <some date> has been formally declared “STICK IT UP THEIR BEHIND” day and the people of these two nations should not buy a single drop of gasoline that day.
The only way this can be done is if you forward this email to as many people as you can and as quickly as you can to get the word out.
Waiting on the government to step in and control the prices is not going to happen. What happened to the reduction and control in prices that the Arab nations promised two weeks ago?
Remember one thing, not only is the price of gasoline going up but at the same time airlines are forced to raise their prices, trucking companies are forced to raise their prices which effects prices on everything that is shipped. Things like food, clothing, building materials, medical supplies etc. Who pays in the end? We do!
We can make a difference. If they don’t get the message after one day, we will do it again and again.
So do your part and spread the word. Forward this email to everyone you know. Mark your calendars and make <some date> a day that the citizens of the United States and Canada say “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH”!
Sound familiar? Make a convenient and insignificant sacrifice for a short period of time, and go to bed happy thinking that you have just made a world of difference. 
Seriously though, I do applaud any kind of activism, and I respect anyone who puts in the effort and goes out of their way to get the word out for causes that are truly believe in.
However, I also tend to agree with Abi that bringing awareness is not nearly as impactful as actually doing something to address the problem. And in the grand scheme of things, turning off the lights for 60 minutes doesn’t really contribute much in actually saving electricity for addressing the global warming issue.
It’s been two years since “Inconvenient Truth“, and we have more than enough awareness already. Those who are still not aware about global warming by now either don’t care or choose not to care.
Folks, like Abi said, we need more activists, and not slacktivists.
If you have turned off your lights during Earth Hour this past weekend, do ask ourselves this:
Have you turned off your extra hallway light tonight when you were not in your living room?
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2 Comments
“Make a convenient and insignificant sacrifice for a short period of time, and go to bed happy thinking that you have just made a world of difference”
Well put.
Another thing that bothers me is the claim by the “organizers” and the key supporters that the Earth Hour really symbolizes something bigger and that it provides a platform for more discussion. That’s just crap. The stupidity of the audience that participates in Earth Hour is reflected by the fact they take “turn your lights off” to literally mean “turn your lights off” when it really means stop consuming energy. But everyone was on twitter and facebook talking about earth hour during earth hour! If your audience can’t jump from light to electricity then……
Yeah.
I would love to see if anyone has any numbers or done a study to see whether the amount of energy saved from turning off the lights during Earth Hour is actually offset by people using energy in other ways.