You have probably heard a lot of hype around this Earth Hour idea. It started in Sydney Australia by the World Wildlife Fund. Unfortunately it is a lot of hype around an issue that we can do very little about. Now before you go all eco-crazy on me let me explain.
The idea is to turn off all the lights for one hour and reduce the pressure we place on the world’s resources. While a noble cause however it has a very serious flaw, it simply has no effect. In their own press statement they write,
If the greenhouse reduction achieved in the Sydney CBD during Earth Hour was sustained for a year, it would be equivalent to taking 48,616 cars off the road for a year.
Stop and think about that.
1 year = 48,616 cars
1 hour = ??? (almost nothing)
So you might be thinking, “Okay smart guy what should we do?” The answer, I will take from the Danish Political scientist Bjorn Lomborg which is, focus on an issue we can solve.
In 2004 there was a group of economists, the Copenhagen Consensus, who asked, if we had 50 billion to spend on the world’s problems which ones should we do first. The idea is that if you want to know about diseases you talk to a pathologist, if you want to know about the climate, you ask a climatologist, but if you want to know which one will give you a better return for your dollar you speak to an economist.
THIS DOES NOT MEAN GLOBAL WARMING IS NOT IMPORTANT. Damn straight it is. But the reality is we would spend a lot of money to do a little bit of good. So what can we spend our money on where we get a good return. here they are in rank.
Very Good Projects
- Diseases – Control of HIV and AIDS
- Malnutrition – providing micro nutrients
- Trade Barriers and Subsidies – Trade liberalization
- Diseases – Control of Malaria
Good Projects
- Malnutrition – development of new agricultural technologies
- Water and Sanitation – small scale water technologies for livelihoods
- Water and Sanitation – community managed water supply and sanitation
- Water and Sanitation – research on water productivity in food production
- Governance and Corruption – lowering the cost of starting new business
Fair Projects
- Migration – Lowering barriers to migration for skilled workers
- Malnutrition – Improving infant and child nutrition
- Malnutrition – Reducing the prevalence of a low birth rate
- Diseases – Scaled up basic health services
Bad Projects
- Migration – Guest-worker programs for the unskilled
- Climate – Optimal carbon tax
- Climate – The Kyoto protocol
- Climate – Value-at-risk carbon tax
There is a good TED talk where Bjorn explains how they came up with these and why we should prioritize our efforts. So you can feel good that you turned off your lights for an hour and pat yourself on the back while doing very, very little towards solving the problem or you can think about what issue can make an impact on.
Dave,
I agree with what Mr. Lomborg and his team had to say, however (yes….I said however) everything on his list is on a political scale. I vote and I vote how my heart tells me to vote. (Pro World Peace, A Better World, Helping my fellow man.) I pay taxes and would rather my tax money went to the things on Mr. Lomborg’s list. I’ll even contribute what I can to helping but there’s the problem…I by myself can’t even make an tiny dent (not on my salary) in his list. I can however practice things that will help slow the process of trashing my planet. I recycled when recycling wasn’t cool. I shut lights off before that was cool too! It is called thrift. For me the “Earth Hour” is a reason to pester my neighbors to start and to spend some time with a bottle or two of white zinfandel and my neighbors in the middle of the street. After all every little bit helps and we can all do a little for all of it.–Carol
Hi Carol,
I appaud your efforts but I think there are two messages here. 1) If you really want to help the planet, even more than turning off your lights for an hour, then take the bus. Ride a bike. Walk to work.
It is shocking that turning off the lights of Sydney for a year would on remove 48, 616 cars.
Another way to look at it is just 48,616 create as much pollution as the powering of a major city! So by getting out of your car for an hour does a lot more good than turning off the lights.
2) The other take away is that there are other issues we could solve. We would stem the tide of AIDS and malaria. Provide clean drinking water to everyone on the planet. End world hunger for a fraction of what it will cost us to clean up the climate.
The ultimate goal of Earth Hour is to raise awareness, not to really save the Earth by merely turning off lights for an hour.
This campaign is successful, in my opinion, because it got everyone talking about it. Subliminally more people now at least feel a little bit of guilt if we waste electricity which in turn causes more global warming. People want baby step, not shutting off all power plants.
Why don’t you also bash gay pride, it’s also a colossal waste of time because no one should care about other’s sexuality.
Yes, Earth Hour was about awareness, but what exactly did you learn? Did you not know the planet is fucked? Were you previously unaware that our dependency on power was contributing to global warming? Jesus a piece of the Antarctic ice shelf 7 times the size of Manhattan just collapsed. What bigger a sign do you need?
Rather than turning off the power for an hour and then patting each other on the back, how about people get out of their fucking cars? How about we hold the same corporate sponsors who participated in this event, and got to brag about “doing their part” to the same commitment every single day? Everyday asking them to turn off the lights at night when there is no one in the room. It is just common sense.
Earth hour didn’t do shit. It wasn’t even enough to cause people to rethink how they use power. I know that because tonight I can come downtown and look at all the buildings lit up again. And come summer I can walk down Queen st. enjoying the air conditioning blasting out of the open doors that shops have to entice customers inside.
If we were really serious about this, we would begin to impose massive penalties to power abusers, and reward companies for power conservation.
As for gay pride, it too is about awareness. However in it’s case some people still don’t understand that homosexuals are not “faggots with dirt under their fingernails that transmit diseases“. And until that is clearly understood by everyone, it should continue. After that, then we can stop.
I don’t see how Earth Hour and Gay Pride very different from each other. You just want to believe that no one has learned anything from Earth Hour. It’s just that you are biased against its effectiveness, it doesn’t mean that :
1) on the government level that no one is doing anything to penalize big energy waster
2) no one is taking an extra step to save the planet.
Like the AIDS awareness campaign, now people at least know that it’s not only a gay disease – it takes time to get the message across. At the same time, scientists have been trying to find a cure. Most of the “colossal waste of time” campaigns do work, but on a global scale in a less aggressive way.
Funny you mention AIDS as it is near the top of the list on things we CAN solve, but for some reason we would rather have big parties celebrating some issue we can’t.
As for PRIDE, I could easy argue that Pride is a celebration of who we are as a group of marginalized people and the struggles we have overcome. Earth Day is a celebration that the planet is going to shit and we can’t think of anything better to do that turn off the lights for an hour.
I’m not saying that climate change is not important, but it frustrates me that everyone can jump on the bandwagon and then say, “job well done!”
Earth Day did nothing to solve the problem. Hell’s teeth, it didn’t even address the issue. The issue isn’t you leaving your lights on at home. If Sydney turned off the lights for a YEAR that is only the equilavent of 48,616 cars off the road.
Why didn’t they ask people to ride the bus to work, or ride a bike, or walk or telecommute? Because people are lazy and turning off their lights for an hour is the most effort they can possibly muster.
Some people have even worked out the DAMAGE done by earth day in the additional CO2 release from all the candles.
Earth Hour is a gesture to raise awareness of a non-problem. Global warming/climate change has hijacked the real environmental movement i.e. protecting ourselves from poisons and pollution.
Explore the dark side!
http://www.climateaudit.org
http://www.wattsupwiththat.com
Hmmm… let’s check your points.
Very Good Projects
1. Diseases – Control of HIV and AIDS
2. Malnutrition – providing micro nutrients
3. Trade Barriers and Subsidies – Trade liberalization
4. Diseases – Control of Malaria
Good Projects
1. Malnutrition – development of new agricultural technologies
2. Water and Sanitation – small scale water technologies for livelihoods
3. Water and Sanitation – community managed water supply and sanitation
4. Water and Sanitation – research on water productivity in food production
5. Governance and Corruption – lowering the cost of starting new business
Fair Projects
1. Migration – Lowering barriers to migration for skilled workers
2. Malnutrition – Improving infant and child nutrition
3. Malnutrition – Reducing the prevalence of a low birth rate
4. Diseases – Scaled up basic health services
Bad Projects
1. Migration – Guest-worker programs for the unskilled
2. Climate – Optimal carbon tax
3. Climate – The Kyoto protocol
4. Climate – Value-at-risk carbon tax
Now, going by your article, that’s what we should be spending $50 billion on, in that order. Yet, let’s think: you need a planet to actually be able to spend money on. Else, what’s the point?
I’m all for these great causes, which is why I started the 12for12k Challenge to benefit 12 different charities/causes/needs.
http://12for12k.org
But I wouldn’t be able to help any of these with no planet. No-one would, no matter how much money you spent. So helping the planet is just as key when it comes to the long-term help for these issues you raised via Lomborg’s presentation.
There’s one other thing you forget to mention. Yes, 48,000 + cars isn’t a lot when you look at it over a year. But that’s for one city.
Look at Earth Hour now – at the time of writing, there are just short of 1200 cities across 80 countries. Whatever you say, that’s a damn lot of cars.
I could not agree more! My building spends a large sum of money on overtime, just to prepare for this event. They also have staff onsite that night to solve any issues with lights that normally stay on for safety reasons . Our overall building consumption does not drop at all .We historically use more power during that day for some reason .The whole thing is a joke
son
Another relevant point is that the energy cosumed by lights is mostly output as heat. So if you switch your lights off for an hour you will create a reduction in heat in your house. Luckily we all typically have modern thermostats so your heating system will pick up the slack and burn more fuel to compensate. So at most you save is the tiny amount output by bulbs as light energy – the only value in this exercise is symbolic at best.
earth hour is really a great way to promote environmental awareness`,-