Earth Hour a Big Hit
29 March 2008
Christchurch has just had it's Earth Hour. Everyone was supposed to turn off their lights for an hour and sit in the dark twiddling their thumbs. As a result, power consumption dropped by 12.8 per cent during the hour.
I, being the stubborn person that I am, refused to take part. I made sure that my lights and computer stayed on, and I happily spent the hour dropping my Entrecard all over the net. During the hour, I went for a couple of walks down the road to see who was taking part. To my dismay, most people had been conned into taking part in the touch feely exercise dreamed up by some left-wing sandle-wearing tree-hugging vegetarian anti-capitalist who wanted everyone else to also be in tune with the earth's vibes.
I have gone for another walk down the road and a lot of people still have their lights off. But will the Earth Hour make much difference in the long run? Nope! The novelty will have worn off by tomorrow, and people will go back to using their lights, computers, heat pumps and four wheel drives. Power usage will go back to their normal levels, and people will feel quite content because they did their bit during the Earth Hour.