The results are in (namely here and here), and it’s pretty clear Earth Hour was a resounding failure.
But why?
I have a couple of ideas:
Lots of people just ignored it. I did. I was at a wedding. They didn’t shut the lights off. Life goes on, and we’ve gotten used to electricity. I also think some people might have taken the opportunity to celebrate electricity, and in a fit of protest, turned some things on. (I might have if I thought about it and I were at home).
People already turn off unnecessary lighting. Generally speaking, we don’t have unnecessary lighting (or any electronics) running. We actually prefer to conserve, given we see no reason to pay for electricity to needlessly run something. There is an incentive to conserve, you know.
There are far more productive things the WWF could be doing, and all of us along with them. Some of those things might actually do something good for the planet, too.
Windy Recycling Day 