Environmentalists are leading a worldwide hour of shame and darkness on Saturday, March 28. Invented by the World Wildlife Fund in 2007, the annual event has people and government turning out lights as an expression of angst over human energy use and global warming. USA Today reports that one of New York City's symbols of human achievement, the Empire State Building, plans to shut its lights off for one hour Saturday night, along with the St. Louis Gateway Arch, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Eiffel Tower, Egypt's Great Pyramid of Giza and "many other iconic structures."
In response to this hour of darkness and shame, the Competitive Enterprise Institute launched a "Human Achievement Hour" - to celebrate the achievements of men, including the widespread use of energy that lifts the peoples of the world out of poverty. Along with blog posts and press releases, CEI also created a Wikipedia page on Human Achievement Hour to let people know why it was established and how they might participate-- just as environmentalists had created a Wiki entry for Earth Hour.
However, not content with their hour of darkness, some in the environmental movement are determined to stamp out any opposition to their campaign. Almost immediately after the Human Achievement article was published on Wikipedia, environmentalists began attacking the idea and calling for its deletion. (see previous such examples reported on NewsBusters.org). Eventually, the editors were convinced this week to delete the HAH article on the grounds that it did not meet "notability standards," despite the dozen or so newspaper articles (see the USA Today article), radio shows on the topic, and blog references (including Michelle Malkin). Many environmentalist blogs and news outlets have noted Human Achievement Hour as an alternative to Earth Hour, but the reports are usually peppered with pejoratives.
As CEI analyst Michelle Minton explains on OpenMarket.org, the Human Achievement Hour - 8:30pm to 9:30pm on Saturday, March 28 - calls on people to "celebrate the achievements of humanity such as eating diner, seeing a film, driving around, keeping the heat on in your home-all things that Earth Hour celebrators, presumably, should be refraining from." The main philosophy of Human Achievement Hour is to celebrate the products of mens' minds and to oppose environmentalism that would have government prevent individuals from achieving in the future.
Update: The HAH article on Wikipedia was restored on March 27.
- Read about Human Achievement Hour on National Review and Open Market.
- And watch this video on Human Achievement Hour:
