Monday, January 22, 2007

EarthHour - The Green's Mr. Silly moment


When i was a child, my favourite books were the Mr. Men series. In particular, i loved Mr. Silly - the silliest inhabitant of Silly Town. Every year the people of Silly Town held a competition to see who could come up with the silliest idea. Mr. Silly inevitably won with a plan to paint all the trees red and the grass blue. Australia's Green movement has just come up with an idea to out-silly Mr. Silly himself.

19:30 on March 31st 2007. I'm buying an industrial sized spotlight, which i plan to shine throughout Middle Harbour. I plan to compete with the Great Wall of China for visibility from space.



If the Australian office of the WWF get their way, at this time on this date, the lights of Sydney will go out for precisely one hour. Why? You may understandably ask,

Apparently WWF hopes it Earth Hour campaign will send a message to Australians about climate change.


WWF Australia CEO, Greg Bourne,

"If we prove that together we can significantly cut our greenhouse gas pollution it will send a message to every city around the world that we have the power to take action against global warming,"

Ohh. purleeaasse. Each year China adds more power stations than Australia's entire production.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change confirm that the benefits from Kyoto amount to about 0.06 degrees in half a century

Unbelievably this is not some isolated moonbat group. Earth Hour is supported by the City of Sydney, the NSW Government, The Sydney Morning Herald, and the Lord Mayor of Sydney, Clover (is there a name sillier than that?) Moore,

"Australia's commercial business sector is responsible for around 10 per cent of national greenhouse gas emissions and all commercial businesses and their workers should join the community in supporting Earth Hour, but also take concrete actions to reduce energy use."

The WWF uses the following justification for its Mr. Silly campaign,


  • The production and use of energy in Australia provides 69% - the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions and is the greatest contributor to global warming. (CSIRO)

What? Provides 69% of what?

  • By 2100, up to 15,000 Australians could die every year from heat-related illnesses (Australian Medical Association).

By 2100 the AMA 'could' release a sensible statement.

  • 2005 was Australia's hottest year on record, with an annual mean temperature 1.09°C above the average. (Australian Bureau of Meteorology).

And? That the Earth is warming is not in doubt. That this is man-made is.

  • There has been a 30% reduction in snow cover over the last 45 years in the Snowy Mountains. Areas with at least 3 days snow cover annually are predicted to shrink by between 39% and 96% by 2070. (Murdoch University).

The weather men can barely even predict if it will rain at the weekend, let alone what the weather will be like in 2070. How does anyone take this crap seriously?

Sign up for here Earthhour.

Mr. Silly's idea was to paint all the trees red and the grass blue. I think his idea has more merit.