Earth Hour hopes to shed light on climate
So are the St. Louis Gateway Arch, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Eiffel Tower, Egypt’s Great Pyramid of Giza and many other iconic structures.
The lights will be going out for Earth Hour, organized by the World Wildlife Fund to draw attention to global warming, from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. Saturday local time around the world. That’s when organizers of the event, which began in Sydney in 2007, want everyone to turn off non-essential lights.
About 2,800 cities in 83 countries — including 250 in the United States — had signed up, according to Dan Forman, a spokesman for World Wildlife Fund, an international conservation organization that boasts 1.2 million national members and close to 5 million globally.
Forman said organizers want to send a message to Congress and to global leaders working this year on climate change legislation and a treaty to limit greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming.
“It’s all about the symbolism,” he said. “We fully recognize that one hour does not put a dent in the climate crisis.”
The effort has its critics.
“We think Earth Hour, even if you are super-concerned about global warming, is a little lame, and we are making fun of it,” said Eli Lehrer, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), a Washington, D.C., think tank that supports limited government and decries global warming “alarmism.”
CEI has announced a “Human Achievement Hour” to counter Earth Hour. The group says millions of people will participate by turning the lights on, going to a concert or seeing a movie. “It’s obviously tongue-in-cheek,” Lehrer said.
Many companies, however, are serious in support of Earth Hour, Forman said. Coca-Cola, for example, has pledged to turn off its big signs around the world, including a marquee in New York’s Times Square.
Schools and universities across the country are also participating, including the University of Louisville.
“We are trying to change the cultural attitudes and behavior,” said professor Barbara Burns, chairwoman of the university’s Sustainability Council. “And one of the first steps is awareness.”
Roger
One more thing I forgot.
Wave energy devices off shore have a possible benefit-protecting the shoreline against waves- Especially useful where there is vulnerable infrastructure. Where I live there is a railway line runs along a sea wall which since the day it was built in 1850 has been affected by waves. I suspect it is the only one in the country where the locals consult a tide table before the time table!
More to the point, such devices are also thought to be capable of affecting sediment, currents etc and would reduce the wave power that creates surf! That might be a consideration in California.
I think studies on both the above are few and far between so if you can just arrange say $10 million in research we can do a joint project 🙂
Tonyb
To the commentator who attributed the improvements to Ethiopia to “Live Aid”, etc.
I think, rather, nonsense. My Church, Colonial Church (refering to the American Colonial Period, as it is a Congregational church, sent several dozen teams to two valleys in Ethiopia. 4 other “well to do” church groups in the southwest suburbs of Minneapolis/St. Paul did the same. They physically dug 3000 wells (plenty of underground water in Ethiopia), brought the equipment to do it. Planted 2 million
trees (with help from the local population). By 1989, the rains had returned. The valleys were fertile again, and that effect washed over Ethiopia like the rain itself.
Maybe the “Live Aid” paid for some equipment. But the experience of the people of my church is THERE IS NOTHING LIKE BRINGING THE PEOPLE, EQUIPMENT AND MONEY DIRECTLY TO THE “USERS” to make sure it doesn’t make some corrupt “government” official wealthy while his people starve.