Environmentalists around the world have hailed Earth Day as a success. The whole day was planned to raise global awareness about climate change. Participants were supposes to turn off their lights in sending a message of global solidarity in reducing emissions in order to starve off global warming. An hour was all it took.

(AP Photo/ Thibault Camus)

From an Antarctic research base and the Great Pyramids of Egypt, from the Colosseum in Rome to the Empire State building in New York, illuminated patches of the globe went dark Saturday night to highlight the threat of climate change. Time zone by time zone, nearly 4,000 cities and towns in 88 countries dimmed nonessential lights from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

The United Nations’ top climate official, Yvo de Boer, called the event a clear sign that the world wants negotiators seeking a climate change agreement to set an ambitious course to fight global warming.

I did not take part in it not only because I was unaware when the time was, but because it seems so pointless. This is nothing more than a cosmetic act that makes guilty-White liberals feel better about themselves all because the turn the lights off for a moment ... and then hope on to their SUV to go to a friend’s hot tub party. It would be nice if such action engendered genuine conservation, but I have a hard time believing that. I makes someone feel better because it makes him/her feel that they are changing the world. But are those people really ready to take actions that involve more effort than the simple act of turning off the lights? I think hardly.

If you care about the environment and want to reduce emission don’t just turn the lights off for one hour once a year, but start recycling, walk more instead of always driving, buy efficient light bulbs and so on. Why not an Earth century instead of an Earth hour?