Celebrate Human Achievement Hour

The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) recently announced the creation of Human Achievement Hour (HAH) to be celebrated tomorrow, March 28^th, between 8:30pm and 9:30pm.  This is the same time and date as Earth Hour, a period of time when individuals, businesses, and governments are being encouraged to “turn off the lights” in an effort to draw attention to global warming.

Human Achievement Video

The supporters of Earth Hour include the United Nations, which is understandable in light of the revelation today that the United Nations is backing a “huge reordering of the world economy, likely involving trillions of dollars in wealth transfer, millions of job losses and gains, new taxes, industrial relocations, new tariffs and subsidies, and complicated payments for greenhouse gas abatement schemes and carbon taxes — all under the supervision of the world body.”

But there is another story; one we intend to keep telling.  That story is that energy is the lever of labor Archimedes of Syracuse referred to when he pointed to something that could move the Earth.  Affordable, reliable and abundant energy is a good thing – for people, for prosperity, for growth and for the Earth – not the sum total of its external costs, as it is depicted by those who wish to control its availability and ration our access to it as a means of increasing their own power – at the expense of our liberty and well-being.  Nothing has done more to improve the quality of life for people on earth than abundant energy.  At AEA, we believe that and will continue to speak out on behalf of those who understand and share our beliefs. 

AEA encourages Americans to join us in celebrating Human Achievement Hour by simply going about your daily lives, doing any one of the millions of activities electricity and affordable energy makes possible, or reflecting on the simple fact that energy is what drives  human achievement and is the lifeblood of American prosperity.

Instead of “turning off the lights” and putting prosperity, human achievement, and the nation’s economy on hold for an hour, we would do better by celebrating the good fortune energy has brought us, and remembering that not all humans – at least not yet – are blessed with the quality of life that abundant, affordable energy makes possible.

Photo Credit: Photo by Flickr user Yodod.  Women collecting cow dung to be used as fuel for cooking is a common practice in parts of the world where energy is scarce and expensive.