Earth hour...are you kidding me?

I've been hearing a lot about this Earth Hour that has been happening. The goal this year was to turn off lights in 20 major cities around the world for 1 hour. This is supposed to save as much energy as taking over 40,000 cars off the road for a year. Does it sound wonderful? At first I thought this is a great idea and was all hyped about it. Until I read more...

The Earth Hour web site provided a lot of information...sadly most of it made me question the whole event. First off, they specifically state "We are asking people to turn off the nonessential lights for one hour – no lights that affect public safety will be turned off. We want everyone to enjoy Earth Hour in a safe and energy efficient environment." If these lights are 'nonessential' in the first place, wtf are they doing on? TURN THEM OFF IF THEY ARE NOT IMPORTANT!! Why wait until some special hour on a special day once a year to make sure you lights are off. In my house we have a rule, if you're not in that room, the lights shouldn't be on.The second point that threw me off while doing some research was the fact that coal fired power stations continue producing at a certain capacity even when electricity goes down. On the Earth Hour website they defend their position by claiming that if energy goes down for an hour then they will have to readjust their coal usage. I highly doubt their whole process will be readjusted in one hour. Also, if they do, then when everyone turns those unneeded lights back on after the hour, they will have to frantically INCREASE coal usage in order to catch up with the rush of power needed.In the end I do agree that this is a good thing to promote, turning off lights and trying to save energy. However, the WWF needs focus more on having those participate be a solution long term. Hopefully those who participate in Earth Hour feel there is an impact being made and they continue to keep unneeded lights turned off and save energy any way they can. It is also a good thing for families to do to teach their children. I just think it's sad that we need to do something at this scale to save our own earth.