Arguing that “[i]t’s important to change the light bulbs, but it’s much more important to change the laws,” Nobel Peace Prize laureate AlGore has launched a $300-million advocacy campaign for the drastic reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions. He believes legislators will not act without public pressure and notes, “I’ve tried everything else I know to try. The way to solve this crisis is to change the way the public thinks about it.”

Perhaps Gore will have more success than the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), which just sponsored the second annual Earth Hour on 29 March from 8:00-9:00 PM (local time). While WWF lauded the “global event” —which began in Australia and called for lights to go dark to symbolize the effect people can have on climate change—and The Washington Post headlined, “Cities Go Dark in Display of ‘Green’,” Australia’s Herald Sun more accurately reported, “Earth Hour Crashes to Earth.” The Herald Sun noted that the much-hyped event “resulted in no significant fall in power usage.” In areas like New England, electricity use actually rose.

Could it be that those eschewing environmental zealotry are the real earth savers? For example, a new study by Dr. Thomas Bonnicksen, visiting scholar at the California Forest Foundation, reveals that forest fires, fueled by the abundance of live and dead trees protected from the “evils” of deforestation, actually release millions of tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere each year.

Forget turning off light bulbs or even changing them. Perhaps it’s time for the light bulb of reality to flick on in the minds of those whose forecasts of climate doom just may be affecting the very scenario they are crusading to avoid.