HAH! Celebrate Human Achievement Tonight

On March 29th, from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. in their local time zones, millions of soul-sapped, misanthropic pessimists will be sitting in the dark marking "Earth Hour."

For the rest of us, that same time period will be celebrated as "Human Achievement Hour," offering an opportunity to turn on the lights, watch television, listen to the radio, or surf the Internet and ponder the wonders of ingenuity and the capacity of man to rise above brute poverty into a scintillating world of his own making that includes art, poetry, music, and machines.

The Competitive Enterprise Institute describes Human Achievement Hour like this:

Human Achievement Hour (HAH) is a celebration of individual freedom and appreciation of the achievements and innovations that people have used to improve their lives throughout history. To celebrate Human Achievement Hour, participants need only to spend the hour from 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm on March 29 enjoying the benefits of capitalism and human innovation: Gather with friends in the warmth of a heated home, watch television, take a hot shower, drink a beer, call a loved one on the phone, or listen to music.

On Saturday, March 29, 2014, from 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm, some people will shut off their lights and spend an hour in darkness as a symbolic vote against global climate change. Observers of Earth Hour want world leaders to “do something” about pollution and energy use. What this means is that they want politicians to use legal mandates and punitive taxes to prevent individuals from freely using resources, hindering our ability to create the solutions and technologies of the future. Instead, the Competitive Enterprise Institute asks you to spend that hour with your lights *on* in celebration of Human Achievement Hour.

HAH is an annual event meant to recognize and celebrate the fact that this is the greatest time to be alive, and that the reason we have come is that people have been free to use their minds and the resources in their environment to experiment, create, and innovate. Participants in HAH recognize the necessity to protect the individual persons from government coercion, so that we may continue innovating and improving our lives and the world around us.

A short video demonstrates some of the amazing things people have done with their hands and their imaginations:

Be sure to leave a comment below, telling everyone how you like to celebrate human achievement. Or more: What human achievement do you most appreciate? What human achievement do you anticipate will make our lives better over the next five or ten years?