This is a LTE submitted on March 21st, 2010

The Editor:

March 27th we’re asked to show concern for nature and renounce the man-made. The ‘green’ lobby again wants us to spend an hour in the dark, turning off our energy sources in order to celebrate Earth Day. A significant number of people won’t be going along and let me try to explain why.

Have you given much thought of what living without man’s achievements would be like?

Our mobility uses the most energy. Have you considered how far and how fast could you travel without using cars or planes or buses or trains?

Housing uses another significant potion of our energy budget. Have you considered the degree of suffering you would experience if you gave up all man-made shelter and moved back into a cave?

Food, in both production and distribution, also requires a tremendous amount of energy. Have you thought about the quality and the quantity of what you would have to eat without modern agriculture or food processing and distribution?

We, who will not be turning out the lights, have given some thought to what life would be like if we went back to nature. In our modern society, everything of value is the result of many years spent by intelligent human beings challenging nature and unraveling its secrets. And of applying the knowledge they acquired and transforming the raw, natural earth for the betterment of mankind.

We will instead be celebrating Human Achievement Hour. Some of us will be getting together and drinking a toast to the geniuses who have made modern life what it is. Tomas Edison, Nicola Tesla, George Westinghouse, and Michael Faraday in electricity. Henry Ford, Gottlieb Daimler, John D Rockefeller, George Stephenson and James Watt contributed to bringing us ground transportation.

There is not enough space to list all the people we have to thank for challenging nature and changing the world.

The ‘green environmentalist movement claim they want to make the world a better place for all living creatures and then utterly discredit themselves by calling carbon dioxide a pollutant.

So if you are still determined to turn out your lights, I ask that you not be a hypocrite. Do it for a month or more and then if you turn the lights back on, give a small thanks to the geniuses who made it possible. And next year reject the call to return to the cave and join us in celebrating HAH instead.