Editorial: Just say no to silly propaganda

Just sit there with a light on, reading a book. Or watch TV with pizza in the oven. Or shoot hoops in the driveway, under the glow of a floodlight.

When 8 p.m. comes along on Saturday, go about your life. Take pride in avoiding the latest feel-good fashion stunt. Just say no to Earth Hour.

Earth Hour began last year in Sydney, Australia, where a small group of global-warming alarmists convinced some 2.2 million people to turn off their lights one evening for an hour - proving how easily one can affect mass behavior. Simon Sez turn off the lights, and the lights go off. It's almost like a great practical joke, in which pranksters sit by, laughing about the minions sitting in the dark.

The Earth Hour Web site says the event was designed to counter "the greatest threat our planet has ever faced ... global warming."

So we're to believe that global warming - a theory - poses a greater threat than the thousands of nuclear warheads locked and loaded during the Cold War. It's worse than a meteor someday colliding with Earth, the eruption of a super volcano or the detonation of dirty bombs by terrorists who care nothing about ecology. No way.

The Australian Earth Hour has spread. Organizers throughout the United States are promoting Earth Hour, convincing schoolchildren to goad their parents into turning out the lights for an hour so everyone can sit around in the dark on a Saturday night, perhaps talking about the blight of humanity on a planet that rightfully belongs to fishes and trees.

"The message is that there are creative ways to conserve and to create community and the message also, I would say, is that, especially to the high schoolers, that they do have a voice, for the upcoming generation, to show them that we are listening, and to show what is important to them is important to us," said Allison Daniell, director of teen programs for Imagination Celebration, which is coordinating the El Paso (Colo.) County Earth Hour.

To genuinely lead, high school students will reject this gimmick to promote groupthink. They'll explain to younger children that global warming is a fuzzy hypothesis - technically indistinguishable from apocalyptic religious beliefs.

The planet may or may not be warming a bit, though recent planetary trends show a phenomenon of widespread cooling. If it's ever proven that Earth is warming or cooling, it may or may not be related to human activity.

Some scientists exaggerate global warming conjecture to generate grants and prizes; politicians do so to rationalize regulations and transfers of wealth. Discerning people, free from personal agendas, wade through the noise while searching for truth.

Regardless of global warming hysteria, efficient energy use has its rewards. Consumers who cut their electric and gas consumption with solar panels and wood stoves, for example, save money and free themselves from monopolized energy corporations with close government ties.

Turning off lights for an hour, however, won't save much money and it won't save Mother Earth. If it disrupts a constructive evening, it's not worth it. If it causes a child to put down a book, it's not worth it. If it pre-empts family movie night, it's not worth it. If it reverts every digital clock to blinking zeros, and reboots every computer, it's not worth it.

Worst of all, Earth Hour teaches children to follow fashion agendas like guppies that can't think. It says making a difference involves follow-the-leader mass behavior, rather than personal effort and responsibility.

Parents, be the house that dares to leave the lights on at 8 p.m. Use the hour to discuss something constructive - like the family's religion, or honest conservation measures that can save money in the long term. Refuse to participate in a silly propaganda stunt designed to brainwash kids.