Earth Hour is a sacred rite of the global warming religion whose message is: confess, do penance (turn out the lights for an hour once a year), and your sins will be forgiven.

The harsh reality is that if we must cut CO2 emissions by 90%, then we have to cut our energy use by about 70%. The only proven alternative to fossil fuels is nuclear, but reactors are expensive, take years to build and have been ruled out by the Rudd government. While “dam” is a dirty word, there will be no more hydro power. Using gas for base load electricity generation is a criminal waste. Only the dangerously deluded believe that solar and wind will ever supply more than a small fraction of energy demand. It will be decades before geothermal “hot fractured rock” power is contributing significantly to the grid – if technical problems and the tyranny of distance can be overcome. “Bio-fuels” are environmentally devastating; incur a carbon-debt that won’t be repaid for decades; and are already causing global food shortages. Nuclear Fusion’s promise of unlimited clean energy could be a century away – if it is ever economically viable. “Clean coal” is expensive, unproven, and faces significant opposition from the environmental movement.

Earth Hour should be expanded to Earth Month. Electric lighting, television, computers, home heating and air-conditioning, private motor vehicles and air transportation would be banned. All energy-intensive industries would be shut down and affected workers stood down without pay.

By giving people a small taste of life under future energy rationing, and testing their resolve, Earth Month would be more than just empty, feel-good symbolism.

D. Zivkovic