Earth Hour Take 2

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by Boblobla

Can you provide a link to this information? I find that interesting.

http://www.calgary.ca/portal/server....tilization.htm

[troutman]

I was in Las Vegas on Saturday night when all the casinos turned out the lights for one hour. It was interesting - most local thought the casinos would never agree to do it. They have done it in the past for a few minutes when a major celebrity or president has died.

[Flames89]

Find some of the anti earth hour arguments on here laughable.

We turned off our lights here, had a great dinner with friends, checked out the darkened skyline, and then went back to our normal lives.

Anyway, it sounds like it was a good success for the rest of the world (aside from too-cool-for-school Calgary)

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Green-IT/Ea...uccess-527575/

Some cool pics:
http://www.earthhour.org/home/

A good argument for Earth Hour here:
http://www.time.com/time/health/arti...725947,00.html

[Burninator]

Here are some pictures of Earth Hour from around the world. You can click on the pictures (everyone but the first one) to see the same scene with the lights off.



http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/200...hour_2009.html

[North East Goon]

Oop's I missed it again. I'll plant a boatload of Marijuana plants in my neighbours yard to make up for it.

[Azure]

San Francisco, CA – Fifteen patients on life support and in surgery died at San Francisco General Hospital when power was cut for "Earth hour" on Saturday.

http://www.bbspot.com/News/2009/03/p...arth-hour.html

[BavarianHorde]

The pictures are great! Thanks for sharing!

[Flames89]

... umm ...

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Flames89

... umm ...

Shhh...

Let's see how long it takes him.

[Jake]

Originally Posted by Dan02

I will have to completely disagree, everyone recycling their 10 cans per week makes a massive difference compared with everyone turning off their lights for a hour out of the year. That's 500+ million cans in Calgary alone.

I think you need to read my post again, I was being sarcastic.

I was hoping people would read it and think "well if everyone recycles it makes a big difference.... wait a minute... if everyone reduces their energy consumption by even a small amount it might make a big difference... hmmm maybe earth hour isn't completely ######ed". I was also pointing out how ridiculous the critics of earth hour in this thread are being.

[Metro Gnome]

It's always curious to me when people defend stunts like this as "awareness raising". Who, in the civilized world, isn't aware of the current environmentalist issues of "power conversation"? It's woven into the very zeitgeist of the culture from New Zealand to Calgary.

Of course, "awareness raising" is actually a euphemism for social posturing these days. This is all facade. This is relatively wealthy people trying to assuage relatively wealthy people guilt for being wealthy. "Chardonnay privation".

It is the warm glow of heads nodding in unison. This is the religion and ideology of the current environmentalist movement - everyone involved understands implicitly that this is social signaling, that we can at once make each other feel better and more sanctimonious through the wholly symbolic (ie; pragmatically ineffectual) castigation of our "wastefulness", while also casting dispersions upon those who don't take part.

Im all for new forms of energy efficiency and advances in energy science, which is where the efforts, money and "awareness" should be directed. I want nothing to do with circle jerk, holier-than-thou nonsense like "Earth Hour (tm)".

[Cowboy89]

Originally Posted by Metro Gnome

It's always curious to me when people defend stunts like this as "awareness raising". Who, in the civilized world, isn't aware of the current environmentalist issues of "power conversation"? It's woven into the very zeitgeist of the culture from New Zealand to Calgary.

Of course, "awareness raising" is actually a euphemism for social posturing these days. This is all facade. This is relatively wealthy people trying to assuage relatively wealthy people guilt for being wealthy. "Chardonnay privation".

It is the warm glow of heads nodding in unison. This is the religion and ideology of the current environmentalist movement - everyone involved understands implicitly that this is social signaling, that we can at once make each other feel better and more sanctimonious through the wholly symbolic (ie; pragmatically ineffectual) castigation of our "wastefulness", while also casting dispersions upon those who don't take part.

Im all for new forms of energy efficiency and advances in energy science, which is where the efforts, money and "awareness" should be directed. I want nothing to do with circle jerk, holier-than-thou nonsense like "Earth Hour (tm)".

I also take objection to the notion that the only solution presented is to bury our heads in the sand and scale back the scale and usage of devices that have dramatically improved our standard of living and quality of life. More attention needs to be paid to innovation of said devices to be more environmentally friendly without sacrificing function and cost. The centre of the movement is this alarmist tone that there isn't time to innovate, we must sacrifice our standard of living and quality of life RIGHT NOW, and to submit all your political and economic power towards central planners.

[JohnnyFlame]

Originally Posted by Metro Gnome

It's always curious to me when people defend stunts like this as "awareness raising". Who, in the civilized world, isn't aware of the current environmentalist issues of "power conversation"? It's woven into the very zeitgeist of the culture from New Zealand to Calgary.

Of course, "awareness raising" is actually a euphemism for social posturing these days. This is all facade. This is relatively wealthy people trying to assuage relatively wealthy people guilt for being wealthy. "Chardonnay privation".

It is the warm glow of heads nodding in unison. This is the religion and ideology of the current environmentalist movement - everyone involved understands implicitly that this is social signaling, that we can at once make each other feel better and more sanctimonious through the wholly symbolic (ie; pragmatically ineffectual) castigation of our "wastefulness", while also casting dispersions upon those who don't take part.

Im all for new forms of energy efficiency and advances in energy science, which is where the efforts, money and "awareness" should be directed. I want nothing to do with circle jerk, holier-than-thou nonsense like "Earth Hour (tm)".

LOL that was a great post and so so true!!!!!!!!

[Jake]

Originally Posted by Metro Gnome

It's always curious to me when people defend stunts like this as "awareness raising". Who, in the civilized world, isn't aware of the current environmentalist issues of "power conversation"? It's woven into the very zeitgeist of the culture from New Zealand to Calgary.

Of course, "awareness raising" is actually a euphemism for social posturing these days. This is all facade. This is relatively wealthy people trying to assuage relatively wealthy people guilt for being wealthy. "Chardonnay privation".

It is the warm glow of heads nodding in unison. This is the religion and ideology of the current environmentalist movement - everyone involved understands implicitly that this is social signaling, that we can at once make each other feel better and more sanctimonious through the wholly symbolic (ie; pragmatically ineffectual) castigation of our "wastefulness", while also casting dispersions upon those who don't take part.

Im all for new forms of energy efficiency and advances in energy science, which is where the efforts, money and "awareness" should be directed. I want nothing to do with circle jerk, holier-than-thou nonsense like "Earth Hour (tm)".

As an answer to your first statement, I think you'd be extremely suprised. Its naive to think that every single person who leaves a light on thinks about power "conversation". For many people, it doesn't even cross their minds.

As for the rest of your post, I'm sure its like that for some environmentalists, but again you're generalizing. Its very ignorant to label such a large group of people in one way.

My theory is just that you enjoy looking down on environmentalists because it helps you justify your daily waste and makes you feel more intelligent .... I particularly enjoyed the hypocritical "holier-than-thou" comment... hey I can play Dr. Phil too

[dubc80]

Well, the results are in and Calgary reduced power consumption by a whopping 1%. Great work everyone!

http://www.calgaryherald.com/Busines...792/story.html

[Dan02]

Originally Posted by dubc80

Well, the results are in and Calgary reduced power consumption by a whopping 1%. Great work everyone!

http://www.calgaryherald.com/Busines...792/story.html

now if only daily power use from week to week doesn't vary up to 10%(as per epcor in Edmonton), that might be statistically significant, but it does and therefor it's not.

[Resolute 14]

Bah. I tried to help by running my dishwasher that night. I shoulda left all my lights on before heading out too