Switch Your Lights ON for Earth Hour!
Posted by keith on March 24th, 2011
Once upon a time there was just greenwash: corporations and governments went to great lengths to convince a concerned public that they were doing everything they could to help the natural environment return to its former glory. All the time they were filling their bank accounts and pumping up their career prospects. You could be green and profitable and no one would suspect the former was nothing but a lie.
Then the non-profits got involved and things started to become complicated. Partnerships were drawn up between the biggest “environmental” NGOs and the most destructive corporations on Earth, all for a tiny sliver of the corporate pie, and a large wad of environmental fuzziness. The corporations looked good; the NGOs got their funding; the planet continued to fry and die.
And then it went even further. Greenwash became partnership became parody as the NGOs fully embraced both the corporate world and the trivial activities they put forward as symbols of their committment to a better world. And a better world it would be: if all you cared about was making money, that is.
Earth Hour 2011 is nearly upon us, and it stands as the ultimate parody of this great coming together of all that is evil in the world of greenwashing. I don’t use the term “evil” lightly. A person cannot be evil; an action can. Earth Hour is evil because it not only allows corporations, politicians, urban sprawls and industrial monoliths to look good in the eyes of a naive public, it actively attacks genuine attempts to try and undermine the very things that feed off Earth Day. An ordinary person in the thrall of industrial civilization cannot fail to be impressed by the sight of a thousand buildings simultaneously switching off their lights in the name of planet Earth; how can something as mundane as building non-dependent communities compete with such glamour.
How can supergluing the valves on the Las Vegas fountains compete with the casinos on the strip switching off their lights for an hour?
How can setting up a community barter scheme compete with Canary Wharf in London switching off its lights for an hour?
How can creating food self-sufficiency compete with Sears in Canada switching off or dimming its lights for an hour?
How can groups of people finding that time spent embracing their local environment rather than jetting across the world compete with Skycity in New Zealand switching off its lights for an hour?
Well, exactly. It’s bullshit, all of it!
And that is why, for Earth Hour 2011, at 8.30pm on Saturday 26th March, if you are doing nothing more important then switch all your lights on. Every single one.
You might have to fight with that part of you that says, “This is wasteful!” but you need to fight it. That one hour spent consciously doing the exact opposite of what the industrial system would like you to think is the right thing to do is what will help cut that link between the machine and your own individual humanity.
Earth Hour is Evil.
SWITCH ON YOUR LIGHTS ON MARCH 26TH.
March 24th, 2011 at 7:46 am
[…] http://thesietch.org/mysietch/keith/2011/03/24/switch-your-lights-on-for-earth-hour/ […]
March 24th, 2011 at 11:02 am
Not really evil, just useless.
March 24th, 2011 at 8:52 pm
I think this blog is useless n hypocritical.
March 25th, 2011 at 3:49 am
Keith you are a sad sad man who is clearly a planet hater.
March 25th, 2011 at 4:03 am
WWF are rallying the troops – enjoy the show!
March 25th, 2011 at 4:48 am
Annabelle – perhaps if you downloaded (for free) and read Keith’s book I guarantee you would not say he is “a planet hater”. BTW The planet can look after itself, whether or not it gets rid of us parasitic humans
March 25th, 2011 at 5:19 am
A partial list of the corporate supporters of Earth Hour:
Mindshare, Starcom and Clear Channel (via http://www.earthhour.org/Heroes/1.aspx)
Intercontinental Hotel Group (via http://www.earthhour.org/Heroes/2.aspx)
Hilton Worldwide (via http://www.conventionedinburgh.com/Hilton-Hotels-Edinburgh-Observe-Earth-Hour.html)
Wells Fargo (via http://blog.wellsfargo.com/environment/2011/03/earth_hour_2011.html)
Atkins Construction
Aberdeen Airport
Barclays
Cobham Aerospace
Credit Suisse
Carillion Construction (Tarmac)
Holiday Inn
HSBC
Ikea
Morgan Stanley
Mitsubishi Electric
PT. TERMINAL PETIKEMAS SURABAYA (Indian Port)
Radisson Airport Hotels
TNT Express
TGI Fridays
UBS
Vodafone
(all via http://earthhour.wwf.org.uk/about_earth_hour/see_who_registered/business_registrations/)
Sears
RIM
(via http://wwf.ca/earthhour/supporters/)
Bulgari
Cartier
HSBC (USA)
Coca Cola
Trump Organization
Walgreens
(all via http://www.worldwildlife.org/sites/earthhour/celebrating-eh.html)
Woolworths Ltd (via http://earthhour.org.au/friends-of-earth-hour/supporting-sponsors/)
AON
Australian Trucking Association
Australian Industry and Defence Network
BreakFree Resorts
Cargill Australia
Citibank Property
Crowne Plaza
Dubai Aluminium Company
Emirates Airlines
GrainCorp Australia
Jones Lang LaSalle
Macquarie Group
Mantra Hotels Group
Novotel
OneSteel
PepsiCo Australia
Pfizer
Retail Traders Association of ACT
Rio Tinto
Sea World
Sony Australia
Tourism Australia
Toyota Motor Corp
Unilever
World Bank Group
WS Atkins
(all via http://earthhour.org.au/friends-of-earth-hour/participants/)
STILL WANT TO TURN YOUR LIGHTS OFF?
March 25th, 2011 at 9:03 am
Oh dear Keith…. maybe in a couple of years when you realise how things work you’ll understand that you absolutely HAVE to get big corporations on your side – even if it’s just them doing something small so they get publicity. In the end it makes them think. This is how change is brought about, not gluing valves and generally being a vandal and public nuisance and giving environmentalists a bad name. This makes corporations dig their heels in further and puts people off. Switching lights off for an hour may seem ‘evil’, but it’s achievable and is being done. Grow up!
March 25th, 2011 at 10:07 am
That’s a brilliant spoof, Hibby. Well done.
March 25th, 2011 at 12:37 pm
Keith, when (if) you do actually grow up and understand the world you’ll look back on this blog with embarrassment. You have my sympathies.
March 25th, 2011 at 2:13 pm
Does that mean I’ll start licking the boots of big corporations and going on big grown up, police approved marches when I’m bigger?
Wow, I can’t wait to grow up.
March 25th, 2011 at 2:54 pm
Hibby and Kevin are right. Big gestures are all very well, but nothing beats the solidarity of a large number of people, all wanting the same thing. I hope you mean well, even if you seem a bit deluded.
March 25th, 2011 at 3:08 pm
Marg, I agree with you – there is a lot to be said for solidarity, even more so community. But mass delusion is a characteristic of the mainstream environmental movement: I should know, I volunteered for Greenpeace for 6 years and experienced the management in full marketing flow on many occasions – they all knew me by name; a friend who was employed in Canonbury Villas for 3 years finally left after being snubbed continually, and his ideas passed over due to their radical nature (all he ever wanted was a recognition that it was the system that was the problem and it could never be tweaked to be “better”); I was thrown off the Greenpeace supporters forum the *moment* other supporters started to agree with the “symbolic is not enough” concept. This has been repeated when speaking to Friends of the Earth, the Sierra Club, RAN…you name it. Eventually you realise the message will never get through because the counter-message is too powerful: “We can have it all, don’t tell us otherwise.”
WWF are giving the corporate world a big bag of makeup and then taking them out on a date – March 26th 2011.
March 25th, 2011 at 3:28 pm
OK, Keith, I’ll be setting all my artificial lighting ablaze at the appointed time this year. Just like I did last year!
I am sorry, though, for the “grown-ups” compelled to comply with commands issued by our repugnant industrial society of death and domination. Willful self-domestication is so pitiful – even worse than “learned helplessness.”
March 25th, 2011 at 9:36 pm
I agree Keith. Things like Earth Hour do qualify as evil since they are (as you say) preventing us from doing what is actually necessary.
Turning off the lights for an hour makes people feel better about not making the hard choices that need to be made. Like reducing our population and reducing out consumption.
Without those things we are in all likelihood condemning millions or billions to extreme poverty and death. All because we can collectively control ourselves.
I for one will be sending a bright shining message during “Earth hour”. For all the good it will do.
LS
March 26th, 2011 at 11:56 am
Great sane post Keith! If anyones out and about, flip every switch you can find “ON”. I guess they’ll be switching the lights out in Tripoli as well…for slightly different reasons. A blackout usually implies wartime which i guess is about right as this rotten system declared war on everythng uncivilized many many years ago. Its a war they wont win though.
March 26th, 2011 at 12:37 pm
Keith and Judge – if you’re so against those who are “compelled to comply with commands issued by our repugnant industrial society of death and domination.”, I don’t suppose either of you owns the computer you are using or indeed, have bought into the world of Microsoft? I don’t suppose you have any ‘mod-cons’, mobile phones or cameras either. Or, being part-luddite, part-neanderthal, do you really live in a cave? It’s very easy with all your comfort and material goods, to criticise everyone else who’s just a bit better off than yourself and think that if we all gave it up life would just be one big party and everyone would be equal. Big companies run this planet, getting them to do things (however small) is how change begins – look at the advances over the last 20 years. As I said, grow up!
March 26th, 2011 at 12:57 pm
Wow, I’ve never heard the “you’re using a computer so everything you say is irrelevant” argument. That means the rebels in Libya shouldn’t use guns then, yes?
March 26th, 2011 at 10:08 pm
I have just had a good laugh reading over the comments on this thread.
I’m not much into conspiracy, but a group of people suddenly turning up and reading, then posting comments (with quite a similar tone) on The Unsuitablog that clearly have no clue what Keith is talking about smells badly. Or perhaps it’s just one person posting multiple times. Who knows …
Still, it’s a clear demonstration of the naiveté of even (some) people who care enough to read and comment on a blog like this. Do they really think that Big Business actually cares, and can be made to change it’s ways by feel-good nonsense like Earth Hour?
Not going to happen my friends. Big Business will cut down the last tree, dig up the last gram of coal, sell it all to you, then squeal that they need government bailouts because all of the resources are gone.
Good luck is about all I can say. You are going to need it.
LS
March 29th, 2011 at 1:56 pm
You will never remain “pure” Keith if you have the temerity to use the masters tools to destroy the master. Whatever next!? I cant see that “green star” award coming your way any time soon-maybe a black & green one though! Personally, so as to make the corporate enviros feel smug im going to term myself an anarcho-hypocrite as i drive home to my cave. I’ll feel suitably guilty for using a knapped piece of flint to light the fire as well (it was done with an industrially produced chisel :0 ).
Keep up the good work, dont let the sapiens sapiens grind you down. Viva Neanderthalensis!
March 29th, 2011 at 2:31 pm
My sincerest thanks to LS and Steve for throwing buckets of common sense over the proceedings. By the look of things Earth Hour ended up the damp squib it should have. Nothing has changed, but a few thousand people are feeling smug for having switched a load of lights off for an hour. Symbolism rocks, rolls then falls over.
April 7th, 2011 at 2:03 pm
brilliant. Shows how deeply ingrained the “business as usual” philosophy is in even ‘environmentalists’ (really hate that word)! Keep up the good work…