The idea is to persuade everybody to renounce technology with the flick of a switch, raising "awareness" of the need for big government to rescue the globe, indeed even the universe, from the scourge of global warming.
A surprising number of businesses and organizations have bought into the scheme. Atlantic City casinos run by Caesars Entertainment will switch off exterior lighting (though maybe not the lights on the slots and the roulette tables). Verizon has encouraged employees to turn off lights in their homes. The Empire State Building, the Gateway Arch, Chicago's Navy Pier and the Space Needle in Seattle will be dimmed. So will Big Ben, the Sydney Opera House and the Eiffel Tower.
Earth Hour paints humanity as the villain pillaging Mother Earth and perpetuates the Luddite myth that modern technology is the enemy of nature. That's not even close to being true.
...That's the idea behind Human Achievement Hour, the Competitive Enterprise Institute's response to Earth Hour. Rather than sitting in the dark on Saturday night, Human Achievement Hour encourages people to "celebrate a human achievement that has improved their lives — everything from indoor plumbing to computer technology, to access to consumer goods and affordable energy."
The free-market think tank encourages people to participate by enjoying a warm (or even hot) shower, to crack open a cold beer, watch a basketball game on TV, text a friend on a smartphone or enjoy any of the simple joys of life made possible by the energy and innovation of free men.
More of the world's problems have been solved by human ingenuity and the free market than by sitting around in the dark and feeling guilty (for the wrong things) for an hour.
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