Earth Hour was never much more than a branding exercise concocted by a major ad agency to make corporations look good. We get that, yes. Some would argue despite that, it still created awareness about energy consumption and it cut through to people who don’t spend their days immersed in this stuff.

But if only the members of the Facebook group Human Achievement Hour had an appreciation for shades of grey.

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A lively discussion on the merits of PR-based advocacy regarding global warming, brought to you by dumb and dumber.

If there was any doubt that this issue has shifted from a bi-partisan issue into a dunderhead debate involving reds and greens in this country, this Facebook group should dispel it.

What did shadow environment spokesman Greg Hunt have to say when Liberals Senator Cory Bernardi was linked to the group? He did what any smart member of the Coalition does when not-quite-disowning their wingnut counterparts. He rolled out the “broad church” line.

And what did the Opposition leader say?

”Unlike Mr Rudd’s ETS, at least Earth Hour is some form of direct action and it doesn’t involve a great big new tax on everything.”

Hey, at least he’s on message. And a big shout out to departing Senator Nick Minchin, whose work Cory (self-proclaimed member of ”Minchin’s Montana Militia”) looks likely to continue to carry out.