# What's the point of Earth Hour? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 31, 2012, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-earth-hour/617364 "2012-03-31T08:16:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2012, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-earth-hour/617364/1 "2012-03-31T08:16:49Z")
At the most, you’ll save 1 kWh by turning your lights off for 1 hour. If your lights use 1000 W, you’d be better off switching to fluorescent. I say we have an Earth switch-your-computer-off-for-the Weekend. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2012, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-earth-hour/617364/2 "2012-03-31T09:18:43Z")
Wouldn’t people just turn on their teevees or hop in their gas buggies? ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2012, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-earth-hour/617364/3 "2012-03-31T09:21:17Z")
It gives people a warm feeling that they are doing something. It achieves nothing IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/e19adc/32.png) [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2012, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-earth-hour/617364/4 "2012-03-31T09:30:24Z")
It’s just a trendy pretendy, **AaronX**. Like when two people live in a four storey house with an elevator, have four cars, and think that their recycle bin absolves them. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2012, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-earth-hour/617364/5 "2012-03-31T09:45:54Z")
> [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](#): > > It’s just a trendy pretendy, **AaronX**. > > Like when two people live in a four storey house with an elevator, have four cars, and think that their recycle bin absolves them. I wish I could have said it like that. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2012, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-earth-hour/617364/6 "2012-03-31T09:59:47Z")
> [@AaronX](#): > > At the most, you’ll save 1 kWh by turning your lights off for 1 hour. If your lights use 1000 W, you’d be better off switching to fluorescent. I say we have an Earth switch-your-computer-off-for-the Weekend. It’s intended to raise awareness of climate issues. The electricity savings are symbolic only. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2012, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-earth-hour/617364/7 "2012-03-31T11:14:06Z")
I saved a Kilowatt-earth-hour! ---
**Author:** ![6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/e19adc/32.png) [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2012, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-earth-hour/617364/8 "2012-03-31T12:10:50Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > I wish I could have said it like that. Feel free to claim it as your own, **Cicero** ; be sure to spread the use of trendy pretendy™ with any and all references to watt on Earth for Hour. No doubt, **Senegoid** , somewhere in a Brazilian forest, a tree weeps in gratitude only no-one’s there to hear it. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2012, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-earth-hour/617364/9 "2012-03-31T12:19:13Z")
I have the same problem with carbon offsets. ---
**Author:** ![Telperion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telperion/32/509_2.png) [@Telperion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperion)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2012, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-earth-hour/617364/10 "2012-03-31T12:50:00Z")
I hate it because it seems nothing you do is ever enough. First I shell out for fluorescents to save power, and now they want me to turn them off. Honestly, screw that. ---
**Author:** ![Horseface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/4af34b/32.png) [@Horseface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horseface)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2012, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-earth-hour/617364/11 "2012-03-31T13:09:12Z")
Earth Hour is a scam dreamed up by dirty hippies. ---
**Author:** ![Fleetwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fleetwood/32/271_2.png) [@Fleetwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fleetwood)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2012, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-earth-hour/617364/12 "2012-03-31T19:26:30Z")
> [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](#): > > It’s just a trendy pretendy, **AaronX**. > > Like when two people live in a four storey house with an elevator, have four cars, and think that their recycle bin absolves them. Absolves them of what? ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2012, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-earth-hour/617364/13 "2012-03-31T22:31:18Z")
> [@Fleetwood](#): > > Absolves them of what? White guilt? ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2012, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-earth-hour/617364/14 "2012-03-31T22:39:58Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > White guilt? I just went to the store for some Preparation H. ---
**Author:** ![Ibanez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a4c791/32.png) [@Ibanez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibanez)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2012, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-earth-hour/617364/15 "2012-03-31T22:40:40Z")
I do the opposite by celebrating human inovation during earth hour, and turn on every damn thing in my place. ---
**Author:** ![PandaBear77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@PandaBear77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PandaBear77)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-earth-hour/617364/16 "2012-04-01T00:01:45Z")
The point of Earth Hour is for smug hippies to do something to feel even more superior to the unenlightened masses than they normally feel. ---
**Author:** ![Jasper\_Kent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9a28c/32.png) [@Jasper\_Kent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasper_Kent)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-earth-hour/617364/17 "2012-04-01T00:20:58Z")
Of course it’s purely symbolic, but the idea is that everyone worldwide can agree on something (if only for an hour). I kinda like the idea, but I’m one of those dirty hippies. > **[World Wildlife Fund](https://support.worldwildlife.org/site/SPageServer/?pagename=earth_hour_2023)** > > Explore World Wildlife Fund Online to learn more about endangered species like tigers, rhinos, whales, and pandas, the places where they live, threats to their survival, and how WWF is helping to save them. Take action online, shop our site, and... ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-earth-hour/617364/18 "2012-04-01T00:46:07Z")
Even if one manages to reduce one’s energy consumption to zero for one hour every year, it’s what one does for the remaining 8,765 hours that will make a difference. A ten per cent reduction over that period would do a lot more for the planet, and for one’s wallet. The big problem is making a ten percent reduction in your daily usage is a lot harder than turning the lights out for an hour… ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-earth-hour/617364/19 "2012-04-01T07:00:48Z")
> [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](#): > > Even if one manages to reduce one’s energy consumption to zero for one hour every year, it’s what one does for the remaining 8,765 hours that will make a difference. A ten per cent reduction over that period would do a lot more for the planet, and for one’s wallet. > > The big problem is making a ten percent reduction in your daily usage is a lot harder than turning the lights out for an hour… Of course. The point is not to save the world by turning stuff off for an hour, it’s to save the world by provoking discussion which it is clearly doing. Whether the discussion has any long term effects remains to be seen. I don’t think it was ever expected to go beyond Australia. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-earth-hour/617364/20 "2012-04-01T23:34:41Z")
I turn off the lights for 8 hours every night. Just saying. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-earth-hour/617364.md?page=2)