I have experienced the rigours of real blackouts and brownouts many times in my life.
I have seen what it was like in Kobe after the 1995 earthquake when no power was available.
The availability of electricity for the bulk of the world’s population has been by far the most important factor in the development of humans in recent times and possibly ranks with the discovery of fire and the wheel as the most important advances ever made.
A self-indulgent, “feel-good” gesture such as Earth Hour is not just meaningless and futile – it is the stridently self-righteous action of a morally bankrupt group which from a position of relative comfort and abundance would deny the aspirations of millions to improve their lot. It is a gesture which scorns the efforts of those who would try and provide the benefits that cheap and readily available electricity brings.
I doubt whether many in the northern latitudes who will indulge in this silliness tomorrow by turning off some of their lights will actually turn off any heating during this bitterly cold March. I shall not respond in kind by the equally arrogant gesture of turning on all the lights in my house.
Earth hour is a morally bankrupt, self-indulgent, “feel-good” gesture. It is a “cheap” and mean action. It does a disservice to humanity. It diverts attention from the real issues of development that face the world’s poor. And the availability of electric power is fundamentally necessary to this development.
And during Earth Hour tomorrow it will be business as usual for me. I shall not be turning off any lights and I shall not be turning off the heating in my house.
The k2p blog 