Earth Hour was always a symbolic gesture about a moral issue, no wonder RightThinkers just don't get it. I just wish i could hear Mr Solomon explain to his grandchildren what he did about climate change: "I got paid to make excuses for the apathetic rich".

Alzo says, "Symbolic gestures are a waste of time." I dare you to tell that to the soldiers returning from Mr Howards symbolic support for 'peace and democracy' in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Quite agree with the general tenor.
If Global warming is real it is likely that the industrialised ‘West’ will survive best for it can garner earths resources to itself by war when necessary. We may need to alienate some areas thus increasing our food producing capacity and limit drug distribution to ensure that population decline is more marked in the developing world.Even aid the increase of aids?
Again when necessary with the appropriate self justifications that are commonly used, reduce the people number by genocide. More resource usage at accpetable CO2-e output?
No we will not call it genocide perhpas ethical genetics?
Naturally we cannot do anything unless everyone else does, that is the Australian ethos.

On the other hand people like Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute www.rmi.org have for years (since around 1976) shown how energy efficiency can go part way to reducing our CO2-E output at little cost and how with slightly greater cost, pay back time >10 years an do a lot more on a world wide basis. He I think was the first advocating energy efficiency and detailing the how on the web site but there are many other similar organisations. Most of all these show business how to reduce CO2-E in least cost ways.
May I respectfully suggest writers do some home work.
Sure these measures alone may not suffice but since population is a driver looking at population, excluded in Australia since around 1996 and even resurrecting the Commission for the Future.

Liam's "just don't get it" is, of course, the giveaway expression of the fundamentalist. "[A] dogma", wrote Carl Jung, "that is to say, an undisputable confession of faith, is set up only when the aim is to suppress doubts once and for all. But that no longer has anything to do with scientific judgment; only with a personal power drive."

Like other religions, it appears environmentalism now has its Lenten ritual in the Earth Hour (only an hour, mind you, not 40 days), complete with candles. Through gratifying self-denial and will worship, the Earthers stood nearer their deity in Mother Earth, perhaps forgetting momentarily that She, like God, is capable of wrath, and was so long before man ever came on the scene. Yes, I too fear for our children's children's children; I hope they're not around for the Greenish Inquisition.

alzo,

The Greens aren't a tad too radical, they're just a tad too stupid.

One smart guy, this David Solomon when he's ignored the contribution from the national and international communities in the Earth Hour project. And no, we didn't all light candles!

SBS advised tonight that while George Bush remains asleep at the wheel, many energy companies and pollutant industries, including Alcoa and Pacific Energy were part of a group who approached the US parliament requesting MANDATORY cuts to emissions. California mandated caps on carbon in 2006.

More egg on our face when all the big polluters in Australia are rampantly increasing their uncontrolled emissions and vigorously denying their culpability in environmental vandalism.

Wonder whose pushing David Solomon's buttons? I suggest he butts out and conducts his sermons in his own country!

We, in Australia, already have an over-supply of right-wing rabble-rousers - habitual criminals, intent on privatising and polluting OUR clean air - or what's left of it!

Richard Castles has obviously been keeping up with the GW denialist press, the 'religion' smear on environmentalists is suddenly popping up all over the place. Note his fact-free rhetoric and bile, could be straight from the pen of Andrew Bolt but for lack of style.

Never mind that the IPCC is the biggest collaborative science project in human history, never mind that co2 conc/ocean temp/ocean acidity/glacial melt/species migration/weather records all provide concrete proof that biosphere is changing fast and emissions are playing a big role.

Keep right on with the smears Richard, a rich sugar daddy will be sure to reward you soon (ExxonMobil alone having spent over $14mil covertly funding GW deniers in recent years www.exxonsecrets.org).