Opinion: Shedding Some Light on Earth Hour

(March 27) -- Tonight, millions of Americans will be sitting in the dark.

It will be a power outage of sorts, though a self-inflicted one. Saturday night at 8:30 p.m. is Earth Hour, a semi-regular observance coordinated by the World Wildlife Fund in which homeowners, businesses and people running various landmarks like the Empire State Building commit to dimming the lights to draw attention to global warming.

The intentions are good. But there's a problem with the spirit behind the hour of darkness, namely, the idea that climate change will be helped by conserving the use of existing technologies. If we really want to save the planet, we're going to need a far more pro-active approach.

The first problem is sheer numbers. In order to reverse climate change, experts say we'd need to cut global warming pollution by as much as 90 percent from current levels. That would mean sitting in the dark every night and knocking all our cars off the road. It's hard to believe that Americans -- with our exploding deficits because we can't stomach tax hikes or spending cuts -- will go for that kind of austerity. A few recent books, such as Colin Beavan's No Impact Man, have highlighted the kind of lifestyle massive conservation would require, and let's just say that I don't think many Americans will agree to forgo elevators soon.

But even if we would, this raises the second problem: Why would we think that a billion people in both China and India, finally on the verge of being rich enough to afford electricity and cars, will agree to let the party stop just as they get there? Yes, millions of people in developing economies will also be observing Earth Hour, but if current trends continue, eventually, it won't matter if Americans turn out the lights, or even give up our cars, because we will no longer be the planet's big consumers.

Also See: Landmarks Going Dark

If climate change is going to be solved, it will be solved by some breakthrough technology that not only doesn't pollute, it will be cheaper and more efficient than what we have. When someone invents that, consumers in emerging economies will leap on board, as will we, and we'll be a lot closer to a solution.

Of course, I understand that when faced with a problem – and climate change is a real and menacing one – we want to do something now. That's why millions of people will turn off the lights tonight.

But I'd suggest that, rather than sit in the dark, people who really want to help matters spend that hour organizing friends to lobby for more research funding. Or organize their friends to invest in a company that's working on breakthrough technology. It's better to have an impact than no impact – even if that means keeping the lights on.