Earth Hour '10

I've commented previously - in 2008 and again in 2009 - about Earth Hour, "the environmental celebration for people who are committed to the environment... but not quite committed enough to do the whole Earth Day thing."

Earth Day is hard! Earth Hour is easy!

C'mon, people! Pick an hour this Saturday when you can turn off a few lights. Do it for the planet, and for Al Gore!

Okay... I'm probably unjustly scornful of events like Earth Hour, and even Earth Day. If they are raising year-round awareness of the merits of living a small-footprint lifestyle, they can't be bad. If, on the other hand, Earth Hour participants say, "All-right! I've done my part again this year," the event and those participants deserve all the scorn that can be heaped. If they see immersion in Earth Hour as their recompense for driving that 11mpg Sport Utility Vehicle all year, kinda like Lent is recompense for Mardi Gras... yeah, I'm scornful of that attitude.



(To reiterate my own stance on human involvement in climate change... the climate has always been changing. Human activity probably has some impact; how much is impossible to say for sure. It's certainly worth researching, but until we know more it seems premature to go back to living in caves and eating our meat raw. HOWEVER... there's no reason not to make an effort to minimize personal impact. "Leave no trace" - that's what the Boy Scouts call it. And only doing that for one hour out of every 8760 is stupid.)

[On a personal note: My father was born 90 years ago today. He passed on over to the other side 12 years ago, and I've missed him. I honor him today, and try to honor his memory every day, in the life that I live.]