I’m sorry to see UT giving Earth Month credence on an institutional level. We have a very large administrative accounting group whose job is to see that UT doesn’t waste money. Any measure that could save UT a significant amount of money should be submitted to them. Any measure that does not save money shouldn’t be implemented, whether it has an alleged environmental justification or not.

Specifically regarding Earth Hour, it’s simply silly to voluntarily turn off lights while sitting in air-conditioned or heated buildings in a technologically-developed country and pretend it has any perceptible impact on global climate processes. I also notice that the hour is set for noon, when lights are needed least of all. The eventual effect of Earth Month —  which used to be Earth Day — is to instill guilt for using energy at all, and thus to instill guilt for being happy, healthy and prosperous. 

By contrast, North Korea has Earth Month every month. Every week. Every day. It’s serious about low energy consumption — because it’s unable to raise it. Pretending for even a minute that the U.S. should use North Korea and similarly underdeveloped countries as ideals for energy policy, is beyond absurd — it’s evil.

Alan McKendree, systems administrator in the School of Nursing