Earth Hour

At 8.30pm this evening, I plan on turning on all of the lights in my house. I might even put on the oven, the dishwasher, the central heating, the electric shower and plug in every electrical appliance that I can find.

Earth Hour is the latest thing that Minister John Gormley has been promoting. Personally I can't see any advantage in a city turning out the lights for an hour, apart from the obvious gift that it would provide to burglars. In Dublin, our government's contribution to Earth hour is to plunge the Four Courts, Leinster House and Government Buildings into darkness. Bit late, I would feel; the lights went out there a very long time ago.

I love the quote from the Earth Hour sceptic who said "to hold a candles-and-champagne party indoors, on the mildest night of the year [she's Australian], for just one hour, shows the whole thing is green tokenism. Moreover, both candles and champagne emit carbon dioxide."