This past weekend it was Earth Hour, a global climate change event in which millions of people from around the world participate in by turning off their lights. For one hour. According to the campaigners of Earth Hour this will “make a statement about the urgent need for action on climate change”. But isn’t Earth Hour just a huge and pointless greenwash stunt to make us feel good about our self?

George Marshall, founder of the Climate Outreach Information Network and the author of Carbon Detox and the blog climatedenial.org, argues that Earth Hour is “misguided” and “counterproductive” saying it makes more harm than good.

“Repeatedly in focus groups, people adopt a defensive stance against people who – they feel – are using the issue to take away material benefits. Asking people to sit in the dark plays very well to a widely held prejudice that “the greens” want us all to go back to living in caves.

[...]The metaphors of darkness are overwhelmingly negative: danger, decay, and death. We see the dark ages as a time of brutality. Poets such as Dylan Thomas call on us to “rage against the dying of the light”. Sir Edward Grey on the eve of the first world war said “the lamps are going out all over Europe”. Really the cultural resonance could hardly be worse.”

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It came in a little cardboard mailer. Aspen/Snowmass, the resort area to the stars, where the average price of a house is $4.2 mil, sent me a CFL today. I’ll admit, I visit Aspen annually with my family and so am on their mailing list. I’m guessing that the CFL is actually their yearly pre-season gift (last year it was a calendar). So, I’ll take a free CFL, but it got me wondering… why? It looks like this is recent spate of generosity is part of A/SM’s SAVE SNOW campaign. The campaign is part of a larger environmental commitment that A/SM has going on and it shows how enlightened governance can make a difference.

As part of the campaign they have produced a transparent and valid sustainability report (downloadable at their site), an Amicus Brief to the Supreme Court on carbon dioxide regulation, they have testified in front of congress, and they purchase significant RECs.

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The USA recently passed its energy bill for 2008. The new energy bill has a section where it’s states that incandescent light bulbs will be banned for traditional use. The ban will begin in 2012 and, as planned, be fully in power by 2014.

The energy wasting light bulbs will be replaced with either CFLs or LEDs.

According to the US congress the incandescent light bulb ban will save around $40 billion and USA would need about 14 fewer coal-fired power plants, thus reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 50 million tons.

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