Every year at Christmas, many newspapers reprint “Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus“, this excellent essay by Ross McKittrick should be repeated on every blog on every observance of Earth Hour. Copy, paste, and share it widely. A poll on what you plan to do to observe this event follows.
The whole mentality around Earth Hour demonizes electricity. I cannot do that, instead I celebrate it and all that it has provided for humanity. – Ross McKitrick
Earth Hour: A Dissent
by Ross McKitrick
Image via Wikipedia
In 2009 I was asked by a journalist for my thoughts on the importance of Earth Hour.
Here is my response.
I abhor Earth Hour. Abundant, cheap electricity has been the greatest source of human liberation in the 20th century. Every material social advance in the 20th century depended on the proliferation of inexpensive and reliable electricity.
Giving women the freedom to work outside the home depended on the availability of electrical appliances that free up time from domestic chores. Getting children out of menial labour and into schools depended on the same thing, as well as the ability to provide safe indoor lighting for reading.
Development and provision of modern health care without electricity is absolutely impossible. The expansion of our food supply, and the promotion of hygiene and nutrition, depended on being able to irrigate fields, cook and refrigerate foods, and have a steady indoor supply of hot water.
Many of the world’s poor suffer brutal environmental conditions in their own homes because of the necessity of cooking over indoor fires that burn twigs and dung. This causes local deforestation and the proliferation of smoke- and parasite-related lung diseases.
Anyone who wants to see local conditions improve in the third world should realize the importance of access to cheap electricity from fossil-fuel based power generating stations. After all, that’s how the west developed.
The whole mentality around Earth Hour demonizes electricity. I cannot do that, instead I celebrate it and all that it has provided for humanity.
Earth Hour celebrates ignorance, poverty and backwardness. By repudiating the greatest engine of liberation it becomes an hour devoted to anti-humanism. It encourages the sanctimonious gesture of turning off trivial appliances for a trivial amount of time, in deference to some ill-defined abstraction called “the Earth,” all the while hypocritically retaining the real benefits of continuous, reliable electricity.
People who see virtue in doing without electricity should shut off their fridge, stove, microwave, computer, water heater, lights, TV and all other appliances for a month, not an hour. And pop down to the cardiac unit at the hospital and shut the power off there too.
I don’t want to go back to nature. Travel to a zone hit by earthquakes, floods and hurricanes to see what it’s like to go back to nature. For humans, living in “nature” meant a short life span marked by violence, disease and ignorance. People who work for the end of poverty and relief from disease are fighting against nature. I hope they leave their lights on.
Here in Ontario, through the use of pollution control technology and advanced engineering, our air quality has dramatically improved since the 1960s, despite the expansion of industry and the power supply.
If, after all this, we are going to take the view that the remaining air emissions outweigh all the benefits of electricity, and that we ought to be shamed into sitting in darkness for an hour, like naughty children who have been caught doing something bad, then we are setting up unspoiled nature as an absolute, transcendent ideal that obliterates all other ethical and humane obligations.
No thanks.
I like visiting nature but I don’t want to live there, and I refuse to accept the idea that civilization with all its tradeoffs is something to be ashamed of.
Ross McKitrick
Professor of Economics
University of Guelph
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UPDATE: MSNBC is running a similar poll here. It seem “Human Achievement Hour” has been noticed.
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“Anyone who wants to see local conditions improve in the third world should realize the importance of access to cheap electricity from fossil-fuel based power generating stations. After all, that’s how the west developed” – What!? What about other kinds of cheep electricty? You are looking backwards man!
So whoever scheduled Earth Hour in the middle of Final Four games? I for one will leave all the lights on when I go out to watch my team play!!
Sasha, are you seriously trying to deny that the availability of labour-saving devices was a major force in freeing women from their enforced traditional role as housekeeper?
Are you are of why that role existed? Man are generally bigger and stronger, and thus were more suited to the labour work that constituted the majority of work available for most of history. Women were thus placed in the “traditional” role by simple virtue of the fact that someone had to do it. When electricity came along and started providing a way to supplement and then replace traditional male occupations and then providing labour-saving devices in traditional female occupations, the necessity for men to be the breadwinner began to disappear and women began to find freedom in the same way that millions of men found greater freedom when relieved of the once necessary drudgery of manual labour.
No, it didn’t happen overnight. No, it wasn’t the only element that caused the change, but it was a huge part of it.
Pointing this out isn’t misogynist. Attempting to deny it just shows you’re living in a fantasy world that thinks it’s still the 1950s. You are not oppressed except in your own mind.
Great statement Ross. I have not heard nor seen a single thing regarding E.H. this year, is it today the 31st?
Why can’t you understand the implication of a world political entity declaring their authority over us with this proclamation of ‘over use’? Life expectancy started increasing dramatically with the introduction of coal and, later, with electricity from coal, starting about 150 years ago. At what point did energy mysteriously start being ‘over used’?
Go ahead freestyler, pick the date on the life expectancy chart where you would have STOPPED increasing life expectancy because that was the point in time that ‘use’ crossed the line over into your perceived nonsense of ‘overuse’?
“Also a mere hour will not hurt at all. The following excerpt, shows you are also steeped in a sexist way of thinking, for a start. Once again, it IS only an hour… your whole attitude is not even in line with the whole global ideal of carbon footprints.”
I’ll take your points seriously at face value Sasha and then ask you a serious question as a result. Clearly there are more important people than you or I, so deeply concerned about the whole global ideal of carbon footprints and yet wouldn’t you say it is rather facile of them to simply recommend a tokenistic Earth Hour to return to candles or whatever? Wouldn’t it be more important for such people at the commanding heights of such concern (ie Obama, Gore, Pachauri, Mann, Hansen, Gleick, McKibben,etc, etc) to set a glowing example to all we skeptics and moral laggards and undertake forthwith that they will no longer work in a climate controlled atmosphere but dress for the occasion and face nature the way our grandparents did, all for the sake of the grandchildren? Wouldn’t that be the shining example to set to all those who work in the great outdoors or in non climate controlled workshops and factories? Why don’t they lead instead of scold us Sasha and what about yourself setting such an example from now on?
McKitrick says it for me. If my lifelong interest in electronics has taught me anything, it is the astounding ubiquity and utility of electricity. It’s the single best thing we’ve ever done for ourselves, and any sanctimonious fool who expects me to pretend it’s evil will get a very short answer (maximum two words, the second of which is ‘off’).
I shall be sinking a few vodkas and orange and watching some visual distraction on the PC. On a CRT monitor, natch.
Kenneth J:
At March 31, 2012 at 5:17 am you say:
““Anyone who wants to see local conditions improve in the third world should realize the importance of access to cheap electricity from fossil-fuel based power generating stations. After all, that’s how the west developed” – What!? What about other kinds of cheep electricty? (sic) You are looking backwards man!”
———————————————————————————————————————————
You are talking about nuclear power, aren’t you?
Or have you found some other source of cheap electricity; fairies at the bottom of your garden, perhaps?
Richard
Sorry guys, as an Australian I’m really really sorry this originated from our country.
But never fear, the absurdity of the carbon tax means billions going to dirty coal power stations.
http://www.smh.com.au/business/billions-in-carbon-funds-start-to-flow-20120330-1w3ks.html
Echoing comments from another thread on Canada, I suggest all Canadians turn all their INSIDE lights on at 8.30 pm. Just about all the energy from light bulbs goes to heating our houses, and it is still cold here in Canada, That way we can protest this nonsense, and not waste any energy.
“So whoever scheduled Earth Hour in the middle of Final Four games?”
Well naturally if you’re going to choose a tokenistic hour for lights out and climate controls off, you’ll pick the optimum change of seasons as well as after the dinner is cooked so the Sashas of the world will not be too inconvenienced. Here in South Australia in the Southern Hemisphere we will be winding our clocks back an hour to end summer daylight saving at midnight while in the Northern Hemisphere you’ll be about to head into Summer. All very convenient for a bit of global tokenism and feelgood for the year before business as usual.
Maurizio Morabito (omnologos) says:
March 31, 2012 at 12:29 am
Ross is wrong. “Nature” is also what humans make of it. A nice urban landscape including great architecture is as natural as a rainforest.
The dichotomy humans/nature is after all what brought us to demonizing humans, with loons dreaming up our return to some feral state.
I guess we should say, “I like visiting THE WILD but I don’t want to live there”
Or, I like visiting the wild AND, will live there when I retire.
There, fixed it for you.
Escaping from the city/pleasant valley suburbia filled with stupid people with city/suburban values is the thing my wife are most looking forward to in our golden years.
Kenneth J, Hey man you been smoking the WWF weed again? I bet its real cheep man.
26 min to go and I am turning on ALL my lights, TV and anything that uses power.
afreestyler says:
March 31, 2012 at 4:39 am
Once again, it IS only an hour…
In that case, why not give twenty bucks to the next person you see on the street? It’s only money…
…your whole attitude is not even in line with the whole global ideal of carbon footprints.
If someone tells you he can calculate a carbon footprint, he’ll also expect you to believe he inherited this fantastic bridge linking Brooklyn and Manhattan and he’d be willing to sell it to you because he *likes* you…
Earth Hour is a meaningless symbolism. It’s really about the Greenies themselves and their emotions — about the Greenies feeling all nice and warm and fuzzy inside about themselves. In other words, its about being emotionally self-centered, and the rest of us are supposed to play along to make this nice, emotionally satisfying picture complete. There is really no other way to explain Earth Hour because it does next to nothing for Mother Gaia.
As an astronomer I hate light pollution, but responsible use of light is a great thing.
Electricity is the greatest invention!
Tonight I’ll go to a party.
As I do every year, I am ignoring Earth hour. As with almost all the other emotional appeals by the various pressure groups, I simply turn THEM off rather than listen to a word they say.
Seriously? The intent of Earth Hour was not to celebrate our dark ages. In fact ask any environmentalist (or whoever began the Earth Hour campaign) and they would agree that electricity has many wonderful benefits and has made monumental impact on the advancement of our civilization. I am afraid you got all “in your face” without noticing that the Earth Hour campaign does not seem to be arguing that fact. The campaign is merely reminding people that this is a resource that has some (not all) negative impact on the Planet. That’s all. Some negative (and scientifically proven) impact. The campaign is suggesting one hour – out of our 8760 hours in a year – to reflect on that. Don’t want to? Fine. No need to rage on about how an awareness campaign is anti progress and anti women, just keep doing whatcha do. (Hey isn’t Earth Hour a great chance to teach our young kids about how things used to be? I think it is beneficial for them to experience a life without t.v, phone, video games for one hour. The added benefit – it is just a fun way to get together: families playing board games by candlelight instead of each in their own bedrooms watching movies, people getting together and talking or playing instruments or cards. Curious – when was the last time you did that? Just hung out with your family without outside noise, in the calm, peace and stillness?) The only people participating are not alarmists as suggested in a comment above but determining that a small simple 1-hour act of awareness “demonizes electricity” sounds pretty radical to me. Just sayin’.
Whenever I hear about cheap/available electricity being demonized, I always thought of this quote:
“Giving women the freedom to work outside the home depended on the availability of electrical appliances that free up time from domestic chores. Getting children out of menial labour and into schools depended on the same thing, as well as the ability to provide safe indoor lighting for reading.”
But I could never remember where I read it !!!
Now I will.
Thanks Ross !!
The modern, time-saving, lifestyle-enhancing electrical devices I have lined up for use this Earth Hour: Dishwasher, Self-Cleaning Oven, Clothes Dryer, Spa-bathtub, Computer, Water Heater, Security Lights, Furnace, Ceiling Fan…
Looking forward to it. 😉
I just stood on my roof at watched what happened in Saigon at 8.30…. Nothing, not one single light went out, not one. Here in Viet Nam the WWF says “Vietnam is considered one of most affected country in the world because of the climate change, due to the long coastline and is oriented to the storm, cyclone, rainfall and frequent changes to. The phenomenon of climate change will affect some natural systems of Vietnam, the economy as well as the entire population.
Evidence of the phenomenon of climate change can be clearly seen in Vietnam. The average temperature has risen 0.5 ° C and sea level rise 20 cm over 50 years ago. The negative climate phenomena such as rainfall, drought and floods occur with increasing intensity greater than in Vietnam.”
See that 200mm sea rise and .5C in 50 years, lol I bet there is no so called peer reviewed paper on that one. WWF just tells lies all the time.
afreestyler says:
March 31, 2012 at 4:39 am
well, what a demonstration of chauvinism from ignorance you have shown.
In 3rd world communities women are housebound and pregnant due to the abject povety they are trapped in. The whole point is to free them from that subsistance level of poverty that condems them to being trapped in the cycle of wretched subsistance living.
They tend to be pregnant because the culture demands children, whose mortality rate can be over 50% before achieving the age of 5. So they breed, as much to replace the dead children as to provide for their old. age – which is reached long before they are 50.
Of course, with no cheap clean power, mortality in child birth is astronomical.
But don’t worry, after all, YOU live in the first world and have the luxury of NOT being a human brood mare, with a low life expectancy, wasted in a life of abject povety. Whose greatest aspiration is not to starve (or freeze) to death next winter.
You, Sasha, have missed the whole point of why “Earth Hour” is such a chauvenist, champaign socialist idiotic waste of space.
Your attitude is far more damaging to the potential aspirations of 3rd world women than any amount of perceived sexual bias and intolerance you and your fellow travelers seem able to conjure out of thin air could ever do !
Lack of cheap power CAUSES poverty.
Poverty agravates sexual inequality, and is disastorous for women.
I think electricity is great! That’s why I like to show respect for it by participating in a symbolic act like this. It’s how it’s abused that’s at issue here. (And, BTW, I too hate the light pollution that comes from said abuse.)
Grow up! Be a good example to your kids and quit whinging about every little thing that makes this “ill-defined abstraction called “the Earth”” a little better place, just because it doesn’t suit your masters.
p.s. I like oil too. It’s quite a precious commodity. I’d like to see some of it left on the planet for use by my grandchildrens’ grandchildren.
Great article!
I’m not sure yet how I plan to protest of Earth Day.
How many Jewish mothers does it take to change a light bulb?
None.
“Don’t worry about me. I’ll just sit here in the dark while you go out and have fun.”