Warning to curmudgeons: Just four days till Earth Hour

Since the majority of the comments on my last post about the Earth Hour movement came from those who consider the conveniences of modern society superior to an hour of inconvenience in solidarity with their neighbors, I'll warn them now: Don't read this! Because I'm going to make another brief plug for the third annual Earth Hour, where you're encouraged to turn off the lights for ONE hour on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. your local time.

Yes, that's right, turn off the lights for ONE hour as a show of solidarity with people in 115 countries around the world who are concerned about the impact of climate change on our future. There are 25 states in the United States that have officially signed on to participate by shutting off non-essential lighting in government buildings or at state and national monuments. My state, New Jersey, isn't one of them which is pretty sad because the governor just cut most state funding to the schools here (100 percent cuts in most of the communities in my county). Note to Christie: You might want to look into how energy efficiency could save the state some money.

Oh, and please note, this is lights only folks. You don't have to turn off your refrigerator or your furnace or your data center, which is what most of my neighbors had to do for three or fours days in a row just a couple of weeks ago when the weather made it tough for the local utilities to keep the power on.

Last time I checked, servers or televisions didn't need lights in order to run properly.

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com