Ed's Sunday Sermon: Happy Earth Hour!

Everyone complains about the weather, but no one does anything about it. - Mark Twain

I was reading "Cities go dark to mark Earth Hour" over at CNN.com:

From Rome's Colosseum to the Sydney Opera House to the Sears Tower's famous antennas in Chicago, floodlit icons of civilization have gone dark for Earth Hour, a worldwide campaign to highlight the waste of electricity and the threat of climate change.

Ah "the threat of climate change". It is almost like being afraid of the sun rising in the morning.

The environmental group WWF has urged governments, businesses and households to turn back to candle power for at least 60 minutes Saturday starting at 8 p.m. wherever they were.

Candle power? I don't suppose the brain surgeons at the WWF know what candles produce? Good old carbon dioxide, that infamous cause of "Global Warming". But why let a little science get in the way of a good cause?

The campaign began last year in Australia and traveled this year from the South Pacific to Europe in cadence with the setting of the sun.

"What's amazing is that it's transcending political boundaries and happening in places like China, Vietnam, Papua New Guinea," said Andy Ridley, executive director of Earth Hour. "It really seems to have resonated with anybody and everybody."

Stupidity knows no national boundaries.

Earth Hour officials hoped 100 million people would turn off their nonessential lights and electronic goods for the hour. Electricity plants produce greenhouse gases that fuel climate change.

Fortunately, the other 5.9 billion people aren't in the dark.

The truth is that Earth Hour isn't about saving the planet. It is about spreading the political belief that humans are responsible for something the Earth does anyway. Climate change has been happening since the Earth was created, and will continue to happen regardless of whether humans are on this planet.

Once more, let me remind everyone that manmade Global Warming is a scientific THEORY, not a fact. Considering the huge number of factors that go into changing the Earth's climate, and considering the limited amount of time we have been measuring the Earth's climate, this subject requires far more objective study before any actions are taken.

Let's move from theories to some simple facts:

What happens when the air is warmer? More water evaporates.

What happens when you get more water in the atmosphere? More clouds are formed.

What happens when more clouds are formed? More of the sun's light is reflected away from the planet.

What happens when the Earth gets less sunlight on the surface of the planet? The planet cools.

What happens when the air is cooler? Less water evaporates.

What happens when you get less water in the atmosphere? Fewer clouds are formed.

What happens when there are fewer clouds? More of the sun's light hits the surface.

What happens when the Earth gets more sunlight on the surface of the planet? The planet warms.

This isn't rocket science folks. This is the never ending cycle of warming and cooling this planet goes through every year.

But at least the Irish got it right in the CNN.com story:

Ireland's more than 7,000 pubs elected not to take part, in part because of the risk that Saturday night revelers could end up smashing glasses, falling down stairs or setting themselves on fire with candles.

For the Irish, "Happy hour" is more important than Earth Hour, as well it should be for the rest of us.