Switching Off the Lights Sends the Wrong Message
On the evening of Saturday, March 23, people around the world are being asked by campaigners to switch off the lights for an hour to observe “Earth Hour”. Professor Bjorn Lomborg says this gesture will do little to help the planet, and gives people the wrong impression about how to address climate issues.
“Global warming is a real problem, but Earth Hour is not the answer,” says Lomborg. “Taken to its logical conclusion, if switching the lights off for one hour is a good idea, why not for all the other 8,759 hours of the year?” he asks.
Lomborg explains, “Electricity, and affordable, plentiful energy, is the lifeblood of modern civilization and prosperity. If you do switch off the lights, do it in solidarity with the 1.3 billion people in the world who live in cold and misery because they lack access to electricity. Do it to celebrate the benefits of innovation and technology.”
Fundamentally, concludes Lomborg, “Cutting emissions in the short run is no easy task. Today, green energy is too costly to be a viable solution. Real breakthroughs in energy technology will only come with more investment in research and development.”
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Professor Bjorn Lomborg is Director of the Copenhagen Consensus Center in Washington, DC., and the author of numerous books on environmental themes, including The Skeptical Environmentalist and Cool It.
Lomborg’s March 2013 Project Syndicate article – “Blinded by the Light”
http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/earth-hour-s-counterproductive-symbolism-by-bj-rn-lomborg
On the evening of Saturday, March 23, people around the world are being asked by campaigners to switch off the lights for an hour to observe “Earth Hour”. Professor Bjorn Lomborg says this gesture will do little to help the planet, and gives people the wrong impression about how to address climate issues.
“Global warming is a real problem, but Earth Hour is not the answer,” says Lomborg. “Taken to its logical conclusion, if switching the lights off for one hour is a good idea, why not for all the other 8,759 hours of the year?” he asks.
Lomborg explains, “Electricity, and affordable, plentiful energy, is the lifeblood of modern civilization and prosperity. If you do switch off the lights, do it in solidarity with the 1.3 billion people in the world who live in cold and misery because they lack access to electricity. Do it to celebrate the benefits of innovation and technology.”
Fundamentally, concludes Lomborg, “Cutting emissions in the short run is no easy task. Today, green energy is too costly to be a viable solution. Real breakthroughs in energy technology will only come with more investment in research and development.”
###
Professor Bjorn Lomborg is Director of the Copenhagen Consensus Center in Washington, DC., and the author of numerous books on environmental themes, including The Skeptical Environmentalist and Cool It.
Lomborg’s March 2013 Project Syndicate article – “Blinded by the Light”
http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/earth-hour-s-counterproductive-symbolism-by-bj-rn-lomborg