If you really want to save the Earth, why light candles?

Letter from Errol Goodenough

THE report “What they did in the darkness” (March 30) gives cause for reflection.

I hate to be a party-pooper but in the excitement to switch off for Earth Hour, many may have lost the plot. I witnessed families switching off a couple of lights and then lighting 20 or more candles.

At the Esplanade the scene was repeated a hundredfold and it is mind-boggling how many candles have been lit all over the world. If the campaign is about global warming and not merely about minimizing the use of electricity, then one ought to consider the carbon-footprint of a myriad of naked candle flames worldwide.

How much carbon was released when all the eco-disciples switched to candle power? One also needs to factor in the processes that produce, transport and market candles, as these could be more eco-unfriendly than the careful generation of electricity, which is efficiently channelled to our homes.

If it was about making sacrifices for the environment, couldn’t we have gone one hour savouring the darkness?

From TODAY, Voices - Wednesday, 01-April-2009