"It's really about Americans and people all over the world standing up and saying climate change is real and we need to do something about it now."

Families are certainly the focus at the Ontario Science Centre in Canada, which is hosting its third-annual Earth Hour event this Saturday.

"It's mostly families that attend. We have something for every age," said Karen Hager, the associate director of events and public programs at the center.

Visitors to the Science Center during Earth Hour 2010 will be able to stargaze through high-powered telescopes, hear live music, and learn how to reduce the causes of climate change.

Hager added she's seen interest in Earth Hour steadily grow over the years. "Last year, we had just over 2,600, and we're anticipating this year to be even bigger."

Earth Hour 2010 Sending the Wrong Message?

Some people claim that Earth Hour is sending the wrong message. A student club at the University of Michigan called the Students of Objectivism is staging Edison Hour—named after inventor Thomas Edison—at the same time and day as Earth Hour.

Instead of turning lights off, Edison Hour encourages people to turn all their lights on as a way to "celebrate all the things that technology has brought us," said Victoria Miller, a junior at the university and club vice president.

"We have a problem with Earth Hour, because it suggests that the proper route to progress for humanity is shutting down and moving backward toward the Middle Ages," Miller said.

Miller's group argues that technology — especially "green" technologies such as wind and solar power and electric car engines—are the best tools for reducing the effects of global warming.

"If you accept that humanity is having a catastrophic impact on the environment, then the way to solve it is through the continued use of technology," Miller said. "The point of environmentalism should be to do things more efficiently, not stop doing things."

The group has set up a Facebook page for people interested in Edison Hour. Miller estimates that about a thousand people will participate in the event this year.

Like Earth Hour, Edison Hour is also meant to be "purely symbolic," Miller said, and it will have little negative environmental impact by itself.

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