Earth Hour
The Associated Press

Sydney, Australia, darkened -- kind of -- for Earth Hour 2007.

Featured Topic | Posted 27 weeks 6 days ago

Will 'Earth Hour' darken your doorstep?

Twenty-six major cities around the world are expected to turn off the lights at 8 p.m. tonight on major landmarks, plunging millions of people into darkness to raise awareness about global warming, organizers said. Cities officially signed on include Chicago and San Francisco, Dublin, Manila, Bangkok, Copenhagen and Toronto, all of which will switch off lights on major landmarks and encourage businesses and homeowners to follow suit. Is "Earth Hour" a meaningless stunt, or the start of something big?

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Ben likes: Earth Hour is a turn-off

Caroline Overington/The Australian

Anybody who lives in Sydney knows that Earth Hour was a monumental flop. Sydney did not plunge into darkness. It was a little bleaker than normal but still not quite as bleak as living in, say, Melbourne. In parks around Sydney, children could be heard chanting: “Turn them off!” long after the Great Switch Off had apparently begun. In the CBD, lights dimmed a little when the logos on the buildings went out. Most companies were too terrified to keep their logos burning during Earth Hour but what are the chances that Coca Cola will permanently give up its billboards? It’s absurd.

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Joel likes: Will it matter?

Brian Walsh/Time Magazine

Earth Hour won't suffer for a lack of gimmicks. Servers wearing glow-in-the-dark necklaces will sell eco-tinis at bars and restaurants in Phoenix. A local yoga house in Michigan will offer sessions by lamplight, and the Sheraton Hotel in Chicago will have check-in by candlelight. Watching the lights wink off in major metropolitan areas might look impressive, but it's worth asking: What's the point? As Roberts himself notes, the energy saved by turning off your lights for an hour "won't make an enormous difference." So, if it won't cut carbon emissions, why bother then with Earth Hour, or Earth Day or Earth Live, last year's daylong concert for the environment?

Because climate change is essentially a political problem, and the language of politics is symbolism. Just because an act is symbolic doesn't mean it empty.

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