Earth Hour 2009: Fox News Focuses on Critics… Of Course
“It’s an immensely destructive gesture,” Rosett said. “The U.N. has been busy manipulating and politicizing the science on this for years…. The whole climate obsession has the potential to make Oil for Food look like a drop in the ocean.”
Pardon me if I hadn’t noticed the U.N. manipulating and politicizing the science of climate change, I was too busy watching that same phenomenon take place at the White House for eight years.
Lomborg argues that Earth Hour emits more carbon dioxide
Another nay-sayer that was given a chance to spout his rhetoric was the Danish political scientist Bjorn Lomborg, who argued that the event could actually increase emissions.
“When asked to extinguish electricity, people turn to candlelight,” Lomborg wrote in an op-ed in The Australian.
“Candles seem natural, but are almost 100 times less efficient than incandescent light globes, and more than 300 times less efficient than fluorescent lights. If you use one candle for each extinguished globe, you’re essentially not cutting CO2 at all, and with two candles you’ll emit more CO2,” wrote Lomborg.
But what if you don’t light one candle for each “extinguished globe,” as Lomborg assumes. Personally, I turned off four lights and lit two candles. But for all of those lights that were shut off on bridges, public buildings, skyscrapers, etc., candles were not lit at the 1:1 or 2:1 ratio that Lomborg suggests. The number would probably be closer to 0:1.
I understand some of the critiques that Earth Hour might be a little soft on action once 9:30 local time rolls around. However, movement politics are not neat and tidy. Generating the kind of public support needed to address climate change requires lots of public (political) efforts. That is the way collective action problems are often solved.
If you don’t want to turn out your lights for one hour, once a year, that is fine, no one is going to make you. But for Fox News to try and label Earth Hour as a UN-driven ploy to push an agenda and redistribute wealth, is a strategy straight from the failed Karl Rove playbook. A playbook that has only served to increase the level of ideological divisiveness in American politics.
Images: NASA; Earth Hour
So, it all boils down to “you’re either with us, or your with the communists?” I’ve got a lot of respect for genuine philosophical conservatives… unfortunately, as this stunt by FOX shows, there aren’t many of them out there..
It’s difficult for some people to get beyond an ideological perspective on any and all matters. It can actually be funny sometimes. (I once had an uncle who would seriously say things like “I don’t want that kind of salad dressing, it’s too liberal.”)
Science and the overwhelming consensus of the scientific community should guide public policy—particularly environmental policy.
Unfortunately, there is a very loud and often unhinged minority that sees any efforts to clean the planet’s air and water as “liberalism” instead of as good, common sense. Outlets like Rupert Murdoch’s Fox “News” deliberately portray any attempts to implement environmental improvements as “anti-American”. Fox uses this propaganda to expand their brand, gain more viewers, sell more commercials.
Any questions? Anyone surprised?
Salad dressing that is too liberal? LOL! I’m taking a wild guess here, but was it Newman’s Own or Amy’s?
I’m not particularly surprised, but one of the best tools we have at fighting the media bias is too call BS as often as possible.
You should really watch the video, I wasn’t able to embed it, but to see their “reporters” making the link between Earth Hour, the UN, and the redistribution of wealth was almost funny.
The best part was when the journalist finished her story and said something along the lines of: “Fox News: we report and then let you decide.”
[...] turned off their lights to show support for addressing climate change. But not those hard-hitting Fox News journalists. They were too busy giving their brand of “Fair and Balanced” facetime to right-wing [...]
Actually, Tim, it was “balsamic vinagrette”…yeah, go figure. This guy would also get a charge out of throwing newspapers, bottles and cans in the garbage and then smirk in our direction while doing it. He also saw “gay” and “liberal” the same way. Might have to propose a sitcom with this character one of these days…
I think you missed the number of candles per 100 watt bulb substantially.
A 100 W incandescent bulb produces about 1750 lumens or 137 foot-candles
A 23 watt fluorescent light produces about 1600 lumens or 125 foot-candles
While Lomborg may be an idiot he is correct on the point of candles being the worst thing.
Steve, I’m already laughing! Sounds like a hit to me.
This is why the Republican party was kicked to the street in the US in 2008. There will be another kickfest coming up in 2010. More of them will open their mouths before that, so we’ll be able to identify them.
I think it is a publicity thing. Make a good topic such as “Earth Hour”, report it with a sprinkle of controversy, and this is a recipe for a “big internet buzz”.
Just imagine how many people have visited their site now that this thing is on Digg.
[...] began syndicating my content in a fairly heavy rotation), I can honestly say that they appear to be less biased than Fox News. At least usually, that is. Watch below as the blue blood anchor tries his hardest to paint the [...]