Personally I think propagating the so-called earth day is rather counter-intuitive. Just imagine how many resources, printing ads, etc. of carbon footprint has increase over this earth day thingy? Who benefits the most you guess? Advertising companies, rock bands, etc. Not the earth!
They want us to in unison, shut off our lights. But the marketing effort and cost alone already wasted more than our brief period of "lights off".
They told us we can "save the earth" if we turn off the lights when not in use, and all those superficial efforts. I say if we could all ride bicycles for a start and slow down in our cost of lifestyles and put away all our pride, we might prolong the the earth lifespan a little more. How are we suppose to save the earth if our mere existence keeps harming it??
All these efforts from earth day thingy I guess is all symbolic. Perhaps with all these marketing attention gained they can even derive some profits by selling some earth day T-shirts, mugs, or other knit-knacks. Of course, all in the name of saving the earth.
PS: I couldn't sleep at this hour, so these are my muse...