Earth Hour?

[Virgil]

Lote, Virgil doesn't play computer games, remember! I guess that makes him more environmentally friendly than you

Thanks for the support.

And what is one supposed to do in the dark, sit by the hearth and watch the embers glow? Oh, wait a second, a hearth implies firewood and that requires cutting down a tree. I guess you can't do that either Lote.

[Petrarch's Love]

I saw it here in the states. Silly. Very silly. Poor people have to keep the house in the dark. Or people who lived prior to the 20th century. We are consciously lowering our standard of living.

My first reaction is that it's just another gimmick, like Live Earth was. Yes people might turn their lights off for an hour a year, but won't walk or use a bike for short journeys, give up their 24/7 365 days a year availability of seasonal foodstuffs and foodstuffs not available in their locality, cheap clothes imported from the far east, or their annual foreign holiday, etc, etc. So what difference does it make, really, other than make people feel they have been socially responsible when in fact they've done very little? Neither does Earth hour increase the availability of environmentally friendly technology, or make it cheap enough to be used in the average home - for example availability of wind turbines/solar panels/heat exchangers for home use (at a reasonable price or, here's a thought, perhaps the Government could pay for them to be fitted to homes out of the extortionate tax on fuel (shock horror!)).

If people believe in climate change, and if they want to make a difference, then the difference is going to come from big lifestyle change, possibly a lifestyle change beyond that which most people would accept or, and this seems the more likely avenue, the development of better technology. Switching the lights off for an hour does nothing but turn us back to the 'dark ages'. It doesn't seem to me that moving backwards is the answer.

I don't think the point of this thing was to either make a move toward forcing us all to live in the dark or to effect dramatic environmental change simply because people turn their lights off for an hour. Surely the point is to get people talking about the issue of the environment with an aim to hopefully get people to do something somewhere in between living in the dark like cave men and wantonly wasting electricity. The stunt seems to have at least acheived the goal of getting the people around here talking some.

[Lote-Tree]

And what is one supposed to do in the dark, sit by the hearth and watch the embers glow? Oh, wait a second, a hearth implies firewood and that requires cutting down a tree.

Erm wear a jumper and cuddle upto your fellow man/woman (whatever way you are inclined)! not only you are saving energy you are also sharing your humanity Brotherhood of man (and women - lets not be sexist anymore)!

I guess you can't do that either Lote.

[/quote]

We have lived in the light too much and forgotten the beauty of darkness ;-)

[Virgil]

I don't think the point of this thing was to either make a move toward forcing us all to live in the dark or to effect dramatic environmental change simply because people turn their lights off for an hour. Surely the point is to get people talking about the issue of the environment

As if people aren't talking it to death??? All i hear is this nonsense about global warming. It's taken on a myth of its own.

with an aim to hopefully get people to do something somewhere in between living in the dark like cave men and wantonly wasting electricity. The stunt seems to have at least acheived the goal of getting the people around here talking some.

In my opinion this is a political stunt orienting people to act in a particular way.

Erm wear a jumper and cuddle upto your fellow man/woman (whatever way you are inclined)! not only you are saving energy you are also sharing your humanity Brotherhood of man (and women - lets not be sexist anymore)!

Actually this will cause more global warming. Power outages, it has been shown, result in little mini spikes in conceptions, and therefore the poulation will increase. I'm one that actually believes in increasing the human poulation (without getting into it, it's a good thing; population increases across time have resulted in increased standards of living) so perhaps we should have this hour of darkness afterall.

[kilted exile]

I ignored it. I found the whole idea fundamentally stupid. The idea that people switching off a 60W bulb for an hour will make the slightest bit of difference is quite possibly the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard.

Lights went off, lamps went on. TV's, radio's, all other consumers of electricity stayed on. It was a pointless escapade designed to make people feel less guilty for a while.

The other thing is the main drawers off electrical power for lighting are things like streetlights. Municipalities are not going to be switching them off & they shouldn't either.

The other thing is that if everyone actually DID switch off all electrical consumers for an hour, the switch back on point would likely cause such a huge surge of energy that you would have transformers blowing all over the place. Yeah, great idea

[manolia]

I ignored it. I found the whole idea fundamentally stupid. The idea that people switching off a 60W bulb for an hour will make the slightest bit of difference is quite possibly the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard.

Thank you and amen!

[Lote-Tree]

I ignored it. I found the whole idea fundamentally stupid. The idea that people switching off a 60W bulb for an hour will make the slightest bit of difference is quite possibly the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard.

Stupid would be to assume that was the purpose of the Earth Hour!

It was meant to raise awareness - that is all!

Sometimes people's arrogance and ego blinds them.

Actually this will cause more global warming. Power outages, it has been shown, result in little mini spikes in conceptions, and therefore the poulation will increase.

Use a condom!

I'm one that actually believes in increasing the human poulation (without getting into it, it's a good thing;

I find you sometimes bafflingly bizzare!

so perhaps we should have this hour of darkness afterall.

And admire the heavens in it's glory just like our ancestors did;-)

Thank you and amen!

Come on lassie - you are smarter than Kilty ;-)

[Chava]

The other thing is the main drawers off electrical power for lighting are things like streetlights. Municipalities are not going to be switching them off & they shouldn't either.

They did here, copenhagen went dark. And i agree with Lote, it's a raise awareness issue, and it's about getting people to talk about it. And no it's not talked to death.
Global warming or not, we are going through natural resources faster than they are being replenished, and enough funding isn't going into alternative energy yet to replace it. It's about making people conserve as much as it's about reducing CO2 emissions.
Heck, it could even be a financial pointed finger! If you switch off all those standby appliances and turn off the lights when you leave a room, you're saving yourself on the electricity bill.
I don't see why so many find this a dissagreeable idea?

[Virgil]

I find you sometimes bafflingly bizzare!

That's because you accept conventional thinking and I don't. I've seen enough conventional thinking proved wrong, both in general and professionally.

Just because it's in the newspapers doesn't make it true.

Global warming or not, we are going through natural resources faster than they are being replenished,

Which resources? The oil in the earth we have used since the beinning of the industrial revolution is only 18%. That's in over 150 years. 82% still remains untapped.

and enough funding isn't going into alternative energy yet to replace it. It's about making people conserve as much as it's about reducing CO2 emissions.

Oh please. Lots and lots of money is being spent, mostly wasted because they keep seaching for a panacea that doesn't exist. The only real alternative to fossil fuels is nuclear power. And many of the environmentalist whackos are against that too. They don't want to use oil. They don't want to use coal, they don't want nuclear, they don't even want to cut down a tree for wood. They want us to live like cave people.

I don't see why so many find this a dissagreeable idea?

What are you talking about? I see mostly people agreeing with you. In fact the people who have disagreed here, myself, Kilt, and Manolia all have scientific backgrounds.

[TheFifthElement]

And many of the environmentalist whackos are against that too.

Don't mince your words Virgil

In fact the people who have disagreed here, myself, Kilt, and Manolia all have scientific backgrounds.

Count me in, though I'm not from a scientific background, and my objections are perhaps different to yours. Earth Hour = gimmick.

[Lote-Tree]

That's because you accept conventional thinking and I don't.

I speak from Experience as oppose to Conventional Thinking.

Have you ever been to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh Virgil?

Just because it's in the newspapers doesn't make it true.

I don't read CNNs and Foxes of this world!

You don't have to read any of that to see the changes that are happening.

In my own city I can vouch for the levels of pollution with 20 years of my living there!

edit: Yes I am from a scientific background.

[Chava]

Which resources? The oil in the earth we have used since the beinning of the industrial revolution is only 18%. That's in over 150 years. 82% still remains untapped.

Those reseources aren't available to us yet, they're working on methods of extraction, but aren't there yet. And if you want to get into details, the coal that is being extracted is done so under horiffic and unsafe conditions, thousands die trying to provide you with energy, just check up the amount of accidents and deaths related to diseases as a result of mining for coal.
Nuclear power is not the only sustainable source of energy, Norway gets most of it's energy from hydro electric power; waterfalls and rivers. Denmark is reknown around the world for it's windmill parks, and is even now working on exporting them to China, I'd hate to seem presumptive, but please do some research.
Secondly the problem of nuclear waste is still relevant as no one has found a safe means of destroying it.

[Koa]

I didn't do it though I had heard of it because I live with 3 morons and as long as there are people like them the world won't be a better place. Let me have a point before I explain why.

To me the point of this is remembering that electricity is not always NECESSARY. It's not about living in the 3rd world, it's about remembering that sometimes you don't need that bloody light on if you can actually see anyway, that you don't need a TV to be constantly on, that you can do laundry less often and if you forgot to wash something wait for next time...

And now, concrete example, my housemates. They NEVER switch lights off, to the point that if on a weekend I'm the first one to wake up at stupid times like 11am, I have to turn off the light in the kitchen. Chances are someone went there to get a drink in the night, what's the point of not switching the light back off? And what enrages me more is that they leave the TV on and go back to their rooms, or even OUT. I could kill for that. Once one of them washed ONE t-shirt in the washing machine... I swear, there was only that poor lonely t-shirt. (I should add that our bills are included in the rent, otherwise I would have already killed them)

I'm appalled. If they are like that I bet their families are too? And how many more people I've never met are like that too? I find waste to be disgusting. I don't want to refrain from my shameful privileges for being born on the lucky side of the planet, but I hate the idea of abusing them. Talks of global warming aside, it's just disrespectful, how many useful things could have been done with the energy used to keep a light on all night when no one is in the room? Maybe even simple useful things like being in that room and needing that light, or watching that TV instead of leaving it babbling to itself out loud for hours... (on a couple of occasions I got home and NO ONE was in, but the TV was on).

Wow, love to rant.

[kilted exile]

Stupid would be to assume that was the purpose of the Earth Hour!

It was meant to raise awareness - that is all!

Sometimes people's arrogance and ego blinds them.

My arrogance & ego are blinding me to nothing. My study of the subject however does blind me to pointless gimmicks & personal interest groups which distract from the issue at hand and prevent a real, frank discussion of the subject from taking place.

The idea of this stunt raising awareness is ridiculous, anyone who heard about "earth hour" I am quite sure has also heard the phrase "global warming". I would imagine the % who were enlightened by this gimmick would be under 10%.

If we actually want to do something concrete & purposeful we have to start investing real money in research & development of technology. The time for gimmicks is over, all it does is bring the debate back to the oversimplified & sophomoric "energy use is bad" - which the GP pigs have daubed all over the wall of the farm house, I'm just waiting for the addition to go up.

[Chava]

If we actually want to do something concrete & purposeful we have to start investing real money in research & development of technology. The time for gimmicks is over, all it does is bring the debate back to the oversimplified & sophomoric "energy use is bad" - which the GP pigs have daubed all over the wall of the farm house, I'm just waiting for the addition to go up.

That really made my day You're a darling kilted