Sydney’s annual “Vivid” festival is set to begin this Friday, with organisers stating that they are excited to once again completely undermine all the energy saving made by last month’s “Earth Hour” within the first 10 seconds of the festival. With plenty of new and innovative lighting displays set to be revealed at the 2 week festival, there is sure to be plenty of attractions to help visitors forget the $8 million of taxpayer money being spent on just two weeks of pink lightbulbs.

Responding to criticism over the festival’s energy wastage, chief organiser Richard Orville has explained that the annual event has been actively trying to pursue energy saving methods in recent years. “We’ve stopped putting the lights on during the day,” says Richard, “mainly because you can’t see them then, but I guess it also has the added benefit of saving energy.”

However critics have hit back, stating it is not just the huge amount of lights used that is the problem, but also the extra events scheduled. Anti-Vivid advocate, Mitch Howard, told the Chaser “It’s not only Vivid’s lights displays that make Gina Rinehart look like a modern day Al Gore, some of these planned events are just absurd! What has an ‘intimate outdoor acoustic set under the stars’ got to do with lights displays? And why do they need to heat it with twenty-five space heaters!? Just hold it indoors for gods sake. Don’t these people realise tt’s the middle of winter!”

“And don’t get me started with their opening event, ‘Malcom Roberts sets fire to a 10ft pile of coal and laughs hysterically for an hour’ they’re not even trying to hid it at this point.”