Light 'em Up for Earth Hour

Please allow me to start off by proudly stating that this latest article was written on an energy-consuming computer under the illumination of a regular, non-environmentally friendly filament light bulb, with the television playing in the background down the double-lit hallway as the washer and dryer go through their water and power chugging cycles in the basement.

It’s the start of the latest Internet-inspired, burned-out old hippy-fueled, enviroNazi public relations stunt. It is one minute into Earth Hour, and I just turned on the porch light in celebration.

Now, it’s important that you don’t automatically assume that I am one of the non-believers who dispute the theory of (at least partial) human-induced climate change. As someone who has been a more than outspoken opponent of the poisonous, socialist Kyoto Accord, I have studied countless scientific and political documents and had numerous in depth and amazing conversations with some of North America’s and Europe’s leading experts on the subject.

My opinion has long been formed and solidified in the belief that while climate change is a naturally occurring phenomenon of our planet’s nature, human involvement has had an effect on the speed in which the current era of change is happening.

The targets of the fight to save the planet – all of the gasses and carbon molecules being spewed into our atmosphere that are being held accountable for the rising of global temperatures – are all from right at home. They didn’t come from far away, and they weren’t artificially created without our species being familiar or educated as to their structure.

We have the ability to create a solution to the question of climate change. That is not in dispute. The problem is…well, the problem itself. Instead of focusing our energies and funds into areas such as emergency contingency plans for dangerous weather systems, as well as actual solutions to ridding the ozone of pollutants and lowering them from being put up there to begin with, the experts come up with ideas like a resource-gobbling multinational rock concert, and having all of us sit in the dark (apparently they were getting lonely).

To the wizards that lead the march against global warming I say this: lose the self-serving talking heads like Al Gore and David Suzuki and put some real scientists on the front line in this fight. Get serious about the issue or step aside and let someone else take over.

Stop wasting my time with endless gimmicks and stunts designed to ‘get the message out’. We’ve got it, alright? But crappy $10 light bulbs and no-idling-your-car city laws aren’t going to do squat to save the icebergs in the Antarctic. Neither is sitting in the dark, or listening to some half-rate British boy band in Wembley Stadium telling us to Love Trees! Hate Bush!

In short, stop fawning for the Hollywood paparazzi and get to work.