Return of the dark ages

CNN:

Lights went off across the world Saturday as millions of homes and businesses went dark for one hour in a symbolic gesture highlighting concerns over climate change.

More than 2,800 cities and towns worldwide dimmed their lights at 8:30 p.m. local time for the third annual Earth Hour -- a day-long energy-saving marathon spanning 83 countries and 24 time zones.

In Washington, the lights went out at the Capitol dome at 8:30 p.m. ET; the same time the Empire State Building, Central Park and the George Washington Bridge in New York went dark.

The Philippines topped this year's participation for Asia, with more than 650 communities taking part in the event, according to Earth Hour's Web site.

The light illuminating the face of the landmark Big Ben clock tower in London, England, went out at 8:30 p.m. (4:30 p.m. ET).

In Dubai, iReporter Sharad Agarwal turned out the lights and sat down to a candlelit dinner with his family.

"I personally believe in going green and everything that goes with it," Agarwal told CNN.

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How ignorant is this? Don Surber reports:

Nice thought, but watt for watt, paraffin candles emit 10 times as much carbon dioxide.

Ah yes. Good intentions.

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So, was any carbon dioxide saved?

Noted the Christian Science Monitor: “As Australian blogger Enoch the Red pointed out after last year’s Earth Hour that an average Australian who tries to replace all the light produced by an incandescent bulb with light cast by parrifin candles will result in about 10 times the greenhouse emissions.

“But of course most of us aren’t going to burn 40 candles for every bulb we leave off. The idea here is to make our cities and towns go dark for an hour, not to create a major fire hazard.”

So what is the point?

It is just another empty gesture by people who do not know what they are talking about.

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I am glad to say I did not produce any extra carbon by burning candles instead of light bulbs. I think those who thought of this idea are pretty dim bulbs to begin with. It is another case of ceremony over substance. We get a lot of that from the carbon phobes.