Radical Environmentalism – “Earth Hour” and Bad Science (Part 1)

Last Saturday marked the third annual observance of “Earth Hour” – an environmental event where people around the world switched off their lights for one hour in order to call attention to the dubious problem of global warming.

The Internet is full of pictures, observations, praise, and comments about the significance of the Earth Hour event. One website posted pictures of several famous places around the world, showing them brightly lit up before the hour came, followed by a “fade-to” photo of these places as dark monuments during the observance hour. These photos included darkened images of Hong Kong's financial district, London's Parliament, the Acropolis in Athens, the Water Cube in Beijing, the Colosseum in Rome (maybe it became the “Colo-not-sseum”?), the Sydney Opera House, the Eiffel Tower and The Strip in Las Vegas. I cannot help but draw attention to the fact that darkening these places is nothing less than a step back in time, and represents a denial of human achievement. No doubt, there are many who long for that very thing.

Comments posted about the event included “wonderful to see the world participating....we need to be united in these efforts as we all are part (sic) responsible and guilty for this climatic change, let’s do our small bit for the EARTH” and “I am so glad that people are getting on the move and expressing their love for the earth. It is a grand place to be and so appreciated. As a person, I do all the green that I can and encourage my family to do so.”

Curiously, Al Gore came under fire when someone took photographs of the trees on his lawn being lit up at night during the event. It seems that the chief promulgator of global-warming hype either forgot about the event, or just assumed that no one would notice his non-participation. The irony almost makes the whole thing worthwhile.

I enjoyed one individual’s comment, who pointed out the senselessness of Earth Hour when he said it was "a great attempt at futility. Maybe if everyone held their breath for one hour, we could reduce the CO2 a lot more effectively."

The danger inherent in radical environmentalism is that it is based largely on myth and propaganda. Until someone can definitively prove that global warming is really occurring (and the seeds of doubt about this theory multiply every day), or until someone can demonstrably show that global warming is attributable in large part to human activity (instead of solar cycles, ocean currents, and cyclical weather patterns like El Niño), this is all still very much a theory. But the news media and millions of people are content to settle for bad science, even in an age where we pride ourselves in our advanced scientific process. Global warming and increased carbon emissions from human intervention are accepted as fact, and anyone who questions these scientific assumptions risks ridicule. Scientists who are promoting this dubious theory would fail basic high-school science class methods of hypothesis testing.

To many, Earth Hour was akin to a religious experience. They worship Planet Earth as if it is the goddess mother of all. Indeed, that is what many believe. But the earth is not our mother. What has been forgotten by many is that God is our Father. The Bible points out this very phenomenon in Romans 1:25, when Paul observes that “they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.” When man forgets God the Creator, and turns instead to the things which God made for man, then God turns him over to “foolish thinking”, as verse 28 promises. Aren’t we witnessing this very thing all around us right now?

Next: Paganism and anti-Christianity are promoted in Al Gore’s book Earth In The Balance.