Human Achievement Hour

Human Achievement Hour is an annual, one hour long holiday recognizing the various achievements of humankind. It was created by policy staff at the Competitive Enterprise Institute in direct response to the proposed Earth Hour.
The inaugural Human Achievement Hour is to be celebrated on March 28, 2009 between the hours of 8:30pm and 9:30pm. CEI claims that anyone not participating in Earth Hour, by default, participates in Human Achievement Hour.
History
Human Achievement Hour (HAH!) was created by Johns Hopkins University graduate and CEI policy analyst Michelle Minton. Minton developed the holiday as a way to illustrate what she sees as the hypocrisy of Earth Hour supporters (who utilize TV and Internet to promote a "holiday" dedicated to turning them off.)
Participants
According to CEI's own press release, the new one-hour holiday, has already received overwhelming support from many of Washington, D.C.’s leading institutions such as "Kennedy Center, Smithsonian Institution, WMATA, Target, and George Washington University Hospital; other Nationally Recognized Institutions With Events Planned During Human Achievement Hour Include Wal-Mart, New York Times, and United States Marine Corps." CEI claims that anyone not taking part in Earth Hour takes part in human achievement hour. Also mentioned at the bottom of CEI's press release is a short note stating: It goes without saying that, except for CEI itself, the institutions listed above have not actually endorsed "Human Achievement Hour."
Several other groups with agendas similar to CEI's also plan events that mock or question Earth Hour. One such event is Edison Hour which was organized by students at the University of Michigan.
Notable Human Acievements
* Human Control of Fire
* Alcohol
* Invention of the Wheel
* Paper
* Doughnuts
* The Automobile
* Sliced Bread
* Flight
* The Light Bulb
* The Microwave Oven
* Television
* The first Computer
* The Moon Landing
* Pet Rock
* The iPhone
Criticism
Matthew Wheelan criticized Human Achievement Hour on the climatebiz.com blog. Wheeland's main criticism was that Minton's position was opposite of his. He also noted, "I don't know if the Earth Hour organizers are including in their billion-participant expectations all the world's people who don't have electricity in their homes (and thus are de facto "celebrating" Earth Hour every night), but the CEI is rather explicitly shepherding everyone in the world who isn't turning out lights into their "Human Achievement Hour" campaign."

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