Tonight, the people who hang on Al Gore's every word and love feeling smugly self-righteous about their environmental consciousness are participating in another one of those stupid, meaningless gestures that's just one step above World Jump Day. It's called Earth Hour:
On March 29, 2008 at 8 p.m., join millions of people around the world in making a statement about climate change by turning off your lights for Earth Hour, an event created by the World Wildlife Fund.
Earth Hour was created by WWF in Sydney, Australia in 2007, and in one year has grown from an event in one city to a global movement. In 2008, millions of people, businesses, governments and civic organizations in nearly 200 cities around the globe will turn out for Earth Hour. …
We invite everyone throughout North America and around the world to turn off the lights for an hour starting at 8 p.m. (your own local time)–whether at home or at work, with friends and family or solo, in a big city or a small town.
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Join people all around the world in showing that you care about our planet and want to play a part in helping to fight climate change. Don’t forget to sign up and let us know you want to join Earth Hour.
I plan to do my part to fight this nonsense. I'm going to celebrate technology tonight. From 8 to 9, I'll turn on every light in the house and both TVs, crank up the sound system, and open the front and back doors.
My ancestors didn't survive the Black Plague and Dark Ages, create the Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution, and bring about the past two hundred years of astonishing scientific and technological progress so that we could huddle in the dark.