Edward Norton's Earth Hour Plea Full of Hot Air

Recently, when babysitting my 8-year-old niece, she had trouble with her homework and came to me for help. The assignment was based on Time for Kids, a weekly publication for elementary school children about the news of the day (much like Weekly Reader when I was growing up – does that still exist?). She had to explain in her own words what Earth Hour, coming up on March 28, was all about. Unfortunately, I couldn’t tell her to write “it’s a load of hogwash” – she would have failed the assignment. Such is the brainwashing and social engineering that goes on in our school system today.

But it’s too bad my niece didn’t have actor Edward Norton to look to for advice. Not only is he the official U.S. ambassador for Earth Hour 2009, but he was on CNN’s Larry King Live this week, along with Alanis Morissette, to explain just how this symbolic act of the entire world turning out their lights for one hour will encourage world leaders to cap or tax carbon emissions through legislation. Global unity and all that.

Norton even compared turning out the lights for an hour to the famous civil rights march in Selma, Alabama in March of 1965:

If you think about things in our national history, the march on Selma in the Civil Rights Movement, the march itself, unlike some of the boycotts they did was not a, was not an act in itself meant to change the problem. It was a symbolic act and I think this is for my generation, for many people around the world who care about this issue, I think we’re looking for those kind of symbolic acts that show how many people are, are concerned about this.

The only thing the march in Selma has in common with Earth Hour is that they both share the same month. Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon these days for someone with a cause to promote to try to link it to the Civil Rights movement in order to give it legitimacy. Even The One himself claimed that his parents met at the Selma march in order to give His birth more meaning (even though He was three and a half years old when the first Selma march occurred).

It’s fashionable for Hollywood celebrities to “give back” by donating time – and sometimes money -to a pet cause, be it cancer, AIDS, or whatever. Not only does it make them look like they care (and yes, sometimes they really do), but it gives them free publicity. Everybody wins, right? Unfortunately for them, that publicity sometimes makes them look like knuckleheads.

Global warming has become a popular cause because it’s easy to tell other people how to live their lives while not necessarily making changes in yours. Just by “getting the word out” you’re helping. If Arianna Huffington doesn’t have to live the life of a global warming paragon, why should anyone else? And since you don’t have to have a complicated scientific degree (one only needs to look to Al Gore’s successful global warming career), just about anyone who “cares” can be an expert. Sheryl Crow, Laurie David, Leonardo DiCaprio and Carmen Diaz are just a few of the glitterati to lend their names to the global warming cause.

Looking back to the 1980s, noted scientist Meryl Streep helped hobble the apple growing industry in America when she became the face of the evils of Alar, despite the fact that claims of its dangers were unfounded. Perhaps Edward Norton is looking to cripple the economy in general by taking part in a hoax that won’t save the earth from anything (anyone heard of the sun?).

By the way, the economy includes movies and television. I wonder how big Hollywood’s carbon footprint is? How much does global warming owe to all of the electricity needed to run the hot lights, cameras, editing equipment, and air conditioning (or heating) for the stars’ individual on-set trailers? Not to mention all of the gasoline that is used traveling to and from site locations and to run the cars and other vehicles featured in the films and shows.

If Norton and others are looking for a way to lessen the threat we face from global warming, how about making the ultimate sacrifice by shutting down the entertainment industry as we know it? Actors and actresses could instead turn to live theater, giving daytime plays outdoors for maximum earth-saving benefit. They could travel around the country by wagon train to further shrink their carbon footprints. And just think of all the electricity we could save by there being no more movie theaters and no need for televisions, DVD players, cable boxes and so on in our homes.

Sure that’s ridiculous, and I would never actually expect it to happen. But if these cap and trade regulations that Norton is such a fan of take place, you can bet that the entertainment industry will eventually be affected. As it is, the recession is causing some celebrities to look for infomercial deals as acting and modeling gigs begin to dry up. Even liberal blowhard Alec Baldwin connected the dots between higher taxes and the entertainment industry. Shocking, I know, but if Alec can grasp it, there must be hope.

Meanwhile, I’ll be saving the earth by making sure I don’t watch any Edward Norton movies, either at home or in the theaters. He’ll be proud of my efforts, I’m sure.