Article in The Australian dubs Earth Hour Dim

A previous post spoke of an article from the Sydney Morning Herald which was full of optimism about Earth Hour and its symbolism. A rather contrary article was written for rival newspaper The Australian on the weekend by Bjorn Lomborg.

Far from a cynic on the issue of global warming, Lomborg says that climate change is something which needs to be addressed. The article is full of facts and figures highlighting the problems faced in reducing carbon emissions (far from the emotive language used in Humphries’ post), however that is where the agreement between the two articles appears to end.

Lomborg is not so much a cynic about climate change as a pessimist in how the worlds population are going about addressing it. About Earth Hour he posts:

“Actually, the only real result will be to make it harder to see. The environmental effect of the past three annual lights-out hours has been negligible.”

Evident pessimism as he disregards the heraldic symbolism Humphries so believes in.

He goes on to further suggest that almost all climate change initiatives currently being practiced are pointless and at times detrimental, with a variety of facts used to support his argument.

This percentage versus that percentage, et cetera et cetera. Summed up it virtually says a little isn’t enough so don’t bother.

Despite his cynicism of action (yet belief in need) he provides no real alternatives to the ones he so readily dismisses, opting instead to simply say “much more investment in research and development is needed”.

All in all a rather stagnant argument against what is more a symbolic event than a remedy to its cause.

Lights out for Climate Change

Earth Hour “A chance to Shine”

As Fairfax Media are the sponsors of  Earth Hour it comes as no surprise that the event has been quite well publicised on the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) website over the past week.

Earth Hour, organised by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), was first held in Sydney in 2007 and has since become a mass demonstration in favour of positive environmental change. It involves switching off non essential lighting and electricity for one hour, this year on the 26th of March from 8.30 to 9.30pm.

As with many things environmental, it has evoked a passionate response.

In “A Chance to Shine”, a descriptive and emotive feature on the SMH website, David Humphries goes as far as to compare Earth Hour to one of the “triumphs of good over evil”.

He opens the post by painting bleak picture of disheartened citizens of the world retreating from global issues as they feel unable to make a positive contribution;

“Over the past 20 years, the world witnessed a progressive withdrawal by people from what might be considered global issues. The immediacy of impact of pervasive media sharpened our perception that the world is battered by turmoil and we are powerless individually to do anything about it… The protagonists – politicians and others – urge us to know our boundaries, to steer clear of futile aspiration, to avoid the disappointment of expecting too much.”

The story then mentions the magnitude of Earth Hour, and begins to become more upbeat and positive as he gives further examples of  the “will of dwarfs” working toward something positive, including the worlds compassionate reaction to natural disasters.

That Humphries introduces Earth Hour in this delayed manner makes it seem almost a ray of hope in stark contrast to the miserable background that he formerly portrayed.

Humphries evidently believes that Earth Hour is a powerful symbol, condemning critics who “advocate the restraints of ‘realism’,” and using strong imagery to emphasise the importance of symbolism itself;

“Pragmatic idealism is perfectly legitimate. It doesn’t render you impractical, but recognises the importance of symbols in bringing people together, in investing a sense of community, in again empowering the individual lulled into acquiescence by a sense of hopelessness.”

The post ends rather succinctly with Humphries saying that although Earth Hour will not by itself solve the problem of climate change, the movement was certainly a step in the right direction.

I’m sure the WWF would thank him for so furthering its cause.