Wyatt's Torch

While many people across the world cheered a return to a prehistoric age by turning off their lights for an hour on March 29th, Lynne and I made our own statement by turning on every light in the house.

If I read the meter correctly, we managed to consume 7 kW-hr in that hour.  At about 10 cents per kW-hr, it cost about 70 cents to make the statement, which was obviously well worth it.

(There are some good postings on Earth Hour by 3 Ring Binder, Kindredist, Rational Jenn, and Rule of Reason.)

I can only imagine the smug self-righteousness that the average Earth Hour enthusiast feels as he sits on a sofa in candlelight with his smug, self-righteous friends, sipping a glass of 1999 Dom Perignon that he cracked open for the occasion.  The really sincere ones probably remembered to turn off their Blackberries for an hour, too.  

Of course, this is the height of dishonesty.  If they really wanted to make an accurate statement of what they are advocating, they would not merely spend an hour in the dark in a comfortably heated home, but would strip naked and spend a year alone in Siberia.  Then the ones that survived can come back and tell us how wonderful and progressive the experience was.