Yup, definitely doing it... but I turn off pretty much everything I can (lights, computer, chargers, etc..)
If nothing else, it makes me go around the house and unplug everything. That way I only end up re-plugging things that I actually use
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Turn off the lights while people are undergoing surgery?
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I have to agree with plaing. I conduct two to three surgeries a day in my house around 8:00, and i just can't afford to turn of the lights for an hour.
If enough people do it it will case the powerplants serious trouble and could lead to blackouts.
Sure they probably know beforhand and thus they will probably somehow waste the energy in some way to avoid the overload, but it will definitly not "save" any energy!
Buy some powersaving lightbulbs, use your car less often and keep the AC off if you want to "save" the planet.
well from what i was taught in my undergrad science class: electricity does not FLOW through lines, it is PUSHED.(and it takes so much power to push that we lose 90% of what is produced) so all that electricity is already being used.. whether you turn on the lights so it has somewhere to go is another story.
i remember watching that Al Gore movie and everyone that I live with (7 total) made a serious effort to shut off lights, etc. A few months later I want to Niagara Falls and saw the 5 gianormous light bulbs they have on all night every night to make the falls look pretty. I found myself wondering, with all our efforts, how many seconds it would take one of those bulbs to negate months of our conservation. Lets not forget corporate stores that leave their lights on all night, churches who have spotlights shining from their towers in the night to make them look more holy, etc.
I still make effort to shut off monitors, lights, etc when im not using them, but I think the effort of individuals is the smallest portion of the problem.
fuck no, i need my lights to see how to operate my crazy power conusming fish tanks, and my electric guitars and my computer games and tvs, and ac units.
and fuck those guys for making vince mcmahon change his logo!
i will not for 2 reasons...
1. they messed with wrestling, something one just does not do.
2. imo Phoenix should not be called a flagship city for the U.S.
I am going to turn on every gizmo in the house, including my electric toothbrush and leopardskikn vibrating water bed . The earth sucks and deserves no sympathy, the big blue idiot:)
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1. they messed with wrestling, something one just does not do.
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Yeah, I can see the tremendous hassle and confusion it was to change WWF to WWE. Redoing -that- logo must have been one hell of a tough job :P
Ratarded/Stupid/Faceless is a bit harsh, but for me I don't really seeing it as having a solid point. It doesn't really work as a protest, it doesn't actually save energy in any way that matters, etc... I might've just missed it somewhere, but I honestly just don't see what the goal of it is.
I still did it, it has good sentiment behind it, just seems to lack purpose.
I don't own a car, or TV, I rarely have more than one light on in the house and the one that is uses CFL, I rarely use paper goods, I stopped flying my private jet to Dubai every two weeks, I do everything I can good for the environment and to save energy. And I think this is a pretty stupid thing. While the intent is noble, it is really a farce to say 'hey man, be like me! help save the world and don't use your lights for an hour!' The impact of something like this is really pointless. I'm all for incremental solutions to big problems, but I question if this is really productive at all. How about creating a better CFL bulb recylcing program or getting more people introduced to CFL bulbs? That is actually a sustainable impact and improvement. This is like an incremental solution to try to achieve some monumental change. The change has to come with a lifestyle change and you are not going to convince and educate people to make a sustained difference with something like shutting off your lights once a year for an hour. Because the knee-jerk response of most people to earth hour is 'That is so gay' (I only have my brother and his friends to go on here, who are typical of 90% of the people I grew up with) and I think stuff like Earth Hour contributes to that perception, which ultimately retards the necessary lifestyle changes. That is my take on it, at least.
Bruticus: I think that is sort of the point of why some of us consider it pointless. Energy conservation and use reduction is something we are trying to achieve. Something like a moment of silence doesn't really help achieve anything.
Edit: But maybe the hour without light will make people realize how vital electricity and light is to all their activity? Maybe it will also make them realize that climate change is a major problem? And that they individually can do something about it, there are ways they can do their part, do better. But I think that even though this is possibly the intent of the action, the simple act of turning off your lights, or telling people to turn of their lights, is itself pretty useless in the abstract. If it is accompanied by a dialogue of why this is happening, what impact it has, etc., then I think any 'pointlessness' is redeemed. But even though that thinking my be large in the mind of the creators and, for all I know, was part of the original Sydney Earth Hour, it has been completely lost in my interpretation of it.
yeah it's cool and all to do this once a year, but like the Prof said you have to make lifestyle changes to affect any REAL impact, a 1% decrease in usage for one hour a year doesnt really do much. there's probably higher decrease when a transformer blows during a storm. if all these people were on the same eletrical grid then yeah, there would be a huge decrease. but 1 million spread across who knows how many networks isnt sending a big message *finacially*. seeing that many people 'protesting' together, yeah that's a bit different. but for us to make a real difference it will take lifestyle changes, standards and regulations changes and a real focus to make change happen. and we probably wont see the difference for a generation. there HAS to be a *sustained* effort. throwing some money at it works until the money runs out then things go back to normal. (much like the drug problems in east KY we talked about at a conference yesterday). these sorts of internet protests do raise awareness though.
i napped through it... does that count? my bulbs were off for 3hrs.
Seems noble, but hopefully its leading people to be more aware of their energy consumption as a whole. This is like a 5 day diet as opposed to a life-altering change towards healthier lifestyle.
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1. they messed with wrestling, something one just does not do.
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Yeah, I can see the tremendous hassle and confusion it was to change WWF to WWE. Redoing -that- logo must have been one hell of a tough job :P
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I know a guy was working on an xbox WWF game at the time, he had to go through 2 hours of footage and change the logos to WWE. I guess it was a tough job. And entirely WWE's fault.
To all the people who say this is pointless: every little helps. The gesture is a sign, even if logically it does little to help, it puts a thought into peoples heads. So gradually people will consume less energy. Not all in one day, obviously.
You guys do realize why they changed from WWF to WWE, right?
As for Earth Hour, I didn't participate. I forgot about it by the time the hour rolled around, but for about 6 hours, I didn't have anything but the basics on anyway (because I wasn't home ) I was playing Rockband when the hour struck, so I probably did the opposite
wow, totally missed this. I was cooking with just about every energy sapping device in my arsenal... so I prolly ended up negating all the efforts any tree huggers made.
Personally I think going out and picking up trash, washing off oil covered animals or masterbatin in the woods instead of watching a porno would do more.
Earth hour = bubble gun over huge crack crumbling dam wall.
The idea of taking the stress off the grid for an hour though commendable is also akin to planting a single flower on arbor/earth day.
What i don't like about it is that it is a great cop out to doing something truly meaningful by big company's. Turing off the lights for an hour once a year is free for them. It makes them look proactive with out really having to do anything. Now if company's like Macdonald's and others on the list would buy solar cells and put them on top of their buildings that would be meaningful. Even better is if they would pick a few and outfit them with enough solar cells the take them off the grid entirely.
A much better thing for us would be to have incentives at work to walk/bike/bus to work.
It's not that I'm against efforts to make this a sustainable world, in contrary. But this turning out the lights thing isn't going to help a bit. Why you say? Because it's just going to make it "less bad" for a while. And what if people really switch off their lights for longer, it's still going to make it less bad. Instead if you try to install LED lighting you can leave it on as long as you want. Perhaps your house can be designed to make more use of natural daylight. That's the way forward imo, redesigning products and housing with sustainability in mind.
for the survivability of the planet, that really is the best solution. what's one more species? we've killed enough others already!
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Nah man, just like good old George Carlin said: The planet will be fine no matter what we do. When humans are gone all the litter, pollution, and dead things will return to the earth and join the cycle. The planet is fine, it is animals that are fucked!
for the survivability of the planet, that really is the best solution. what's one more species? we've killed enough others already!
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Nah man, just like good old George Carlin said: The planet will be fine no matter what we do. When humans are gone all the litter, pollution, and dead things will return to the earth and join the cycle. The planet is fine, it is animals that are fucked!
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Wasn't it Carlin who also said the whole reason for our existence was because the planet wanted someone to make it some styrofoam and we were the best way to get it done...
Now if company's like Macdonald's and others on the list would buy solar cells and put them on top of their buildings that would be meaningful. Even better is if they would pick a few and outfit them with enough solar cells the take them off the grid entirely.
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100% behind you, but I'd take it further.
In Edinburgh, solar panels would be pointless, but wind turbines are not. Small wind turbines provide more than enough energy to power a single house, but are large. However, a couple of small wind turbines on the roof of EVERY new built apartment block? That would eat up a TINY % of the construction costs, yet provide a source of free energy.
People complain that huge windfarms are ugly (I don't find them so), but those small turbines are no larger that a satellite dish and people seem more than happy to festoon their house with those.
I recently saw a documentary on skyscrapers, with some of the more modern ones collecting all their rainwater for various things - a central shaft pipe that had waterwheels so the falling water generated power. Heat exchangers to use the water as cooling for air conditioning. Fantastic stuff, none of it expensive when tied in with development costs and all of starts to make buildings semi self powered.
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I'm with Sectaurs either way, but I'll do it anyways.
If nothing else, it makes me go around the house and unplug everything. That way I only end up re-plugging things that I actually use
Bullshit gestures FTW
Turn off the lights while people are undergoing surgery?
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I have to agree with plaing. I conduct two to three surgeries a day in my house around 8:00, and i just can't afford to turn of the lights for an hour.
Sure they probably know beforhand and thus they will probably somehow waste the energy in some way to avoid the overload, but it will definitly not "save" any energy!
Buy some powersaving lightbulbs, use your car less often and keep the AC off if you want to "save" the planet.
but hey, if i remember, then i will.
I still make effort to shut off monitors, lights, etc when im not using them, but I think the effort of individuals is the smallest portion of the problem.
and fuck those guys for making vince mcmahon change his logo!
1. they messed with wrestling, something one just does not do.
2. imo Phoenix should not be called a flagship city for the U.S.
1. they messed with wrestling, something one just does not do.
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Yeah, I can see the tremendous hassle and confusion it was to change WWF to WWE. Redoing -that- logo must have been one hell of a tough job :P
Couldn't resist.
Go do something more usefull with that hour and read a book:
http://www.mcdonough.com/cradle_to_cradle.htm
I still did it, it has good sentiment behind it, just seems to lack purpose.
I might've just missed it somewhere, but I honestly just don't see what the goal of it is.
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What's the "goal" of a moment of silence at a funeral or memorial?
Bruticus: I think that is sort of the point of why some of us consider it pointless. Energy conservation and use reduction is something we are trying to achieve. Something like a moment of silence doesn't really help achieve anything.
Edit: But maybe the hour without light will make people realize how vital electricity and light is to all their activity? Maybe it will also make them realize that climate change is a major problem? And that they individually can do something about it, there are ways they can do their part, do better. But I think that even though this is possibly the intent of the action, the simple act of turning off your lights, or telling people to turn of their lights, is itself pretty useless in the abstract. If it is accompanied by a dialogue of why this is happening, what impact it has, etc., then I think any 'pointlessness' is redeemed. But even though that thinking my be large in the mind of the creators and, for all I know, was part of the original Sydney Earth Hour, it has been completely lost in my interpretation of it.
i napped through it... does that count? my bulbs were off for 3hrs.
Cats+candles=interesting combination.
Cats+candles=interesting combination.
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always a unique experience lol
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1. they messed with wrestling, something one just does not do.
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Yeah, I can see the tremendous hassle and confusion it was to change WWF to WWE. Redoing -that- logo must have been one hell of a tough job :P
[/ QUOTE ]
I know a guy was working on an xbox WWF game at the time, he had to go through 2 hours of footage and change the logos to WWE. I guess it was a tough job. And entirely WWE's fault.
To all the people who say this is pointless: every little helps. The gesture is a sign, even if logically it does little to help, it puts a thought into peoples heads. So gradually people will consume less energy. Not all in one day, obviously.
As for Earth Hour, I didn't participate. I forgot about it by the time the hour rolled around, but for about 6 hours, I didn't have anything but the basics on anyway (because I wasn't home
Lemmings to the ledge, jump on 3.
Save planet = kill self.
Lemmings to the ledge, jump on 3.
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for the survivability of the planet, that really is the best solution. what's one more species? we've killed enough others already!
Personally I think going out and picking up trash, washing off oil covered animals or masterbatin in the woods instead of watching a porno would do more.
The idea of taking the stress off the grid for an hour though commendable is also akin to planting a single flower on arbor/earth day.
What i don't like about it is that it is a great cop out to doing something truly meaningful by big company's. Turing off the lights for an hour once a year is free for them. It makes them look proactive with out really having to do anything. Now if company's like Macdonald's and others on the list would buy solar cells and put them on top of their buildings that would be meaningful. Even better is if they would pick a few and outfit them with enough solar cells the take them off the grid entirely.
A much better thing for us would be to have incentives at work to walk/bike/bus to work.
With this happening...it is clear that once again they've done a great job "promoting" and not "acting" on Earth issues...
Can't tell the difference between the two lawl
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Save planet = kill self.
Lemmings to the ledge, jump on 3.
[/ QUOTE ]
for the survivability of the planet, that really is the best solution. what's one more species? we've killed enough others already!
[/ QUOTE ]
Nah man, just like good old George Carlin said: The planet will be fine no matter what we do. When humans are gone all the litter, pollution, and dead things will return to the earth and join the cycle. The planet is fine, it is animals that are fucked!
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Save planet = kill self.
Lemmings to the ledge, jump on 3.
[/ QUOTE ]
for the survivability of the planet, that really is the best solution. what's one more species? we've killed enough others already!
[/ QUOTE ]
Nah man, just like good old George Carlin said: The planet will be fine no matter what we do. When humans are gone all the litter, pollution, and dead things will return to the earth and join the cycle. The planet is fine, it is animals that are fucked!
[/ QUOTE ]
Wasn't it Carlin who also said the whole reason for our existence was because the planet wanted someone to make it some styrofoam and we were the best way to get it done...
Now if company's like Macdonald's and others on the list would buy solar cells and put them on top of their buildings that would be meaningful. Even better is if they would pick a few and outfit them with enough solar cells the take them off the grid entirely.
[/ QUOTE ]
100% behind you, but I'd take it further.
In Edinburgh, solar panels would be pointless, but wind turbines are not. Small wind turbines provide more than enough energy to power a single house, but are large. However, a couple of small wind turbines on the roof of EVERY new built apartment block? That would eat up a TINY % of the construction costs, yet provide a source of free energy.
People complain that huge windfarms are ugly (I don't find them so), but those small turbines are no larger that a satellite dish and people seem more than happy to festoon their house with those.
I recently saw a documentary on skyscrapers, with some of the more modern ones collecting all their rainwater for various things - a central shaft pipe that had waterwheels so the falling water generated power. Heat exchangers to use the water as cooling for air conditioning. Fantastic stuff, none of it expensive when tied in with development costs and all of starts to make buildings semi self powered.