Earth Hour looks like fading to black

If Earth Hour is supposed to help save the planet then it’s time to call an ambulance.

Early signs are that Earth Hour is in trouble.

The Age reports that participation by businesses dropped two thirds from 2008.

The Herald reports that electricity use only fell in Sydney during Earth Hour by six per cent compared with nine per cent last year.

In Brisbane the march of the heretics, the sceptics and the “deniers” was even worse, with electricity consumption down a paltry two per cent this year, compared to eight per cent last year and 12.4 pr cent in 2008.

And the number of households reporting participation in Earth Hour around Australia is dropping steadily, from 58 per cent in 2008, to 47 per cent last year and 41 per cent this year.

Even then those figures seem wildly exaggerated.

In my street every house bar one had lights on – including mine (well, the rugby was on after all).

But Gaia punished me for my heresy – yesterday one of the transformers running the halogen down lights above my dining table stopped working.

Given the way miniscule electricity savings are trumpeted as Earth-saving, I might still be doing my part to rescue the planet.

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