Lighten Up

From Jennifer Harper’s Inside the Beltway:

Earth Hour: Oh, it does sound so noble, a veritable Al Gore-ian delight. Landmarks around the world — from the Eiffel Tower to the Empire State Building — go dark for an hour on Saturday night as a symbolic gesture against global climate change, with citizenry in 135 countries expected to join in. Organized by the World Wildlife Fund five years ago, the temporary blackout is billed as the “world’s largest environmental event in history,” though organizers suggest participants record plenty of videos and Tweet them right away — not necessarily an energy-saving activity.

Meanwhile, the Competitive Enterprise Institute says it has an unapologetic countermeasure, also a noble gesture. Keep the lights on Saturday night — all in the name of the Human Achievement Hour, meant to celebrate individual freedom and appreciation of the innovations folks have used to improve their lives throughout history. So there.

“Gather with friends in the warmth of a heated home, watch television, take a hot shower, drink a beer, call a loved one on the phone, listen to music,” the group says. It will stage its own in-house party, to be live-streamed online at 8:30 p.m., complete with an online chat: “Tell us how you are celebrating human achievement in your neighborhood,” the group says. Find it all here: www.cei.org/hah.