Earth Hour is tonight from 8:00 - 9:00 PM

[miss.myra]

more info at Earth Hour US - Earth Hour 2008

TURN THAT SHIT OFF!

So if you're participating, what are you going to do during that hour?

Over here it's wine and board games by candle light!

[Grapes]

I was going with book by candle light, but that sounds more fun.

SCRAABBBLLEEEEE

[Senior]

raising awareness of this issue is important but like all WWF activities this is just another feel good campaign.

"yay we're saving the World by something that doesn't really inconvenience us at all. except tomorrow we're going to go right back to driving around a V8 with 4 LCD screens in it, the windows down and the AC cranked."

[miss.myra]

it's a campaign to raise awareness about energy consumption and it's been embraced by millions around the world, why do you have to shit all over it negative nancy?

[frogprincess]

i am going to watch 2 episodes of the office on my laptop using battery power!

[Senior]

Originally Posted by miss.myra

it's a campaign to raise awareness about energy consumption and it's been embraced by millions around the world, why do you have to shit all over it negative nancy?

what don't you understand about what I said? it's a feel good campaign with no real teeth. it's allowing people to say they're doing something, do something, yet still keep on with the same bad habits the next day.

sticking with your positivity though I'll suggest Take David Suzuki's Nature Challenge as something legitimate. this forces people to look at how they are causing these problems and what they need to do to change it for the long run.

[fritz]

Energy Wasting Deferral Hour!

[Grapes]

^ TZ is waiting for girth hour, when you see how many cheeseburgers you can consume in 60 minutes

[robyn]

Originally Posted by Senior

raising awareness of this issue is important but like all WWF activities this is just another feel good campaign.

"yay we're saving the World by something that doesn't really inconvenience us at all. except tomorrow we're going to go right back to driving around a V8 with 4 LCD screens in it, the windows down and the AC cranked."

you have just encapsulated my feelings on the 'i am not a plastic bag' bags

[Grapes]

Is it better or worse than doing nothing?

[shebavpg]

I'm going to sit on FNK on using my laptop. Does that count? lol

[Senior]

Originally Posted by Grapes

Is it better or worse than doing nothing?

I guess that depends on what the outcome of it is. personally I'm choosing not to participate. I do however make daily efforts to reduce energy use. I think sitting in the dark for an hour on a Saturday night is pretty pointless in the big picture. maybe this could be your chance to go out and buy energy efficient light bulbs. then you could sit at home in the light and know that you are saving electricity for ever and not just one night. and for people that just reduce use for one night and go back to their wasteful ways it is worse than doing nothing because they'll be able to fall back on having participated in Earth day. or sorry hour... I mean come on we can't even put aside a whole day for it????

Originally Posted by robyn

you have just encapsulated my feelings on the 'i am not a plastic bag' bags

the thing about using cloth bags is that it's a small part of the big picture but it's a long term solution. it might not make a huge difference tomorrow but over the next 50 years I will save a lot of plastic bags from ending up in a land fill

if any of you care you should try and make garbage disposal as much of an issue as you can in this Novembers civic election. I know it's not as exciting as maybe drug addiction or crime but it's just as important. right now the GVRD's dump is almost near capacity and as a result we are now going to start trucking our garbage to Cache Creek. This means a garbage truck driving 4 hours each way to dispose of your garbage. can you say massive waste of fuel? the city needs better recycling and a compost program ASAP to address this problem. it's possible to get down to 5-10% garbage and 90-95% recycling/compost with better programs and hardly any extra effort from us at home.

[Grapes]

Senoir is going to turn on all his lights at 8pm and leave them on for 1 hour, just to make a point.

[robyn]

Originally Posted by Grapes

Is it better or worse than doing nothing?

the significance of the act is over inflated so people feel like they're doing something without actually having to take steps which would have major impact but inconvenience our comfy, comfy lives.

[lildonkey]

Not only am i not going to turn my lights off, but i'm going to turn every single electrical thing in my house on..

going to turn on my toaster/microwave/oven/every lamp,every light/my computer/ my speakers/my stereo/my dvd player/my vhs player (don't even know why i still have one)/my over the range fan/my printer/my xbox/ and talk on my cellphone while sitting parked in my car infront of my house revving the engine at 7000 rpm while my highbeams are on

FUCK BEING A CONFORMIST

[ebbomega]

Originally Posted by Grapes

Senoir is going to turn on all his lights at 8pm and leave them on for 1 hour, just to make a point.

I'm planning on taking a suggestion from another forum and run my dryer for no reason.

[stephen_c]

google is horrible in black.

[Grapes]

Originally Posted by robyn

the significance of the act is over inflated so people feel like they're doing something without actually having to take steps which would have major impact but inconvenience our comfy, comfy lives.

I doubt more than 2 or 3 percent of people taking place in events like this aren't also taking more important steps to conserve energy and reduce negative impact on the environment.

Who are these people you and Senior are imagining that go "OK we turned the lights off for an hour, now let's go run over some deer in our SUV!"

[Grapes]

If nothing else, we're certainly sparking a dialogue here.

[miss.myra]

hey assholes, did you ever stop to think that something like this is going to force some people to turn out their lights and everything else for an hour on a saturday night so they can find more creative things to do without using energy? did you ever stop to think that these people might actually enjoy themselves and might make a habit of it more often?

have you ever seen how much some people freak the fuck out if their power goes out and they suddenly can't think of a single thing to do? that's pretty sad.

honestly, it's fine that you don't care, but going ahead and putting in just as much energy into being a loud mouthed non participator as you would participating is pretty moot. if you don't care, then spare this thread the devil's advocate role and go stare at your dryer cycle or something.

[miss.myra]

Originally Posted by Senior

if any of you care you should try and make garbage disposal as much of an issue as you can in this Novembers civic election. I know it's not as exciting as maybe drug addiction or crime but it's just as important. right now the GVRD's dump is almost near capacity and as a result we are now going to start trucking our garbage to Cache Creek. This means a garbage truck driving 4 hours each way to dispose of your garbage. can you say massive waste of fuel? the city needs better recycling and a compost program ASAP to address this problem. it's possible to get down to 5-10% garbage and 90-95% recycling/compost with better programs and hardly any extra effort from us at home.

actually, in a recent poll among city of vancouver residents, garbage collection was the third most important service to them behind police and fire services.

[ebbomega]

Eh, I've heard similar arguments for Buy Nothing Day, which I find just as pointless an effort.

And to be honest, spreading the word of how silly this effort is pours just as much light on the issues central to it as promoting it does.

It's the internets, myra. Name some cultural meme/trend that hasn't been lampooned by it at some point or another.

How about, instead of spending one hour one day of the year with your lights out, instead maintain your lights out whenever you don't need them? Why not practice everyday reduction instead of a one-off thing that really doesn't affect much aside from public perception and just convinces people to wait an hour before doing what they were going to do anyways? The plan makes about as much sense as Dubya's "Let's move Daylight Savings forward a month" idea (that also proved completely ineffectual) last year.

[Grapes]

Originally Posted by ebbomega

How about, instead of spending one hour one day of the year with your lights out, instead maintain your lights out whenever you don't need them? Why not practice everyday reduction instead of a one-off thing that really doesn't affect much aside from public perception and just convinces people to wait an hour before doing what they were going to do anyways?

Hey, what a good idea!

Would I have heard about this idea if it wasn't for Earth Hour?

Nope!

Fin.

[Grapes]

Actually it's funny you mention Buy Nothing Day. For some reason I've never participated in that one, and would probably fall in the anti-BND camp whereas I seem to be leaning towards the pro-EH camp.

Maybe because I'm more of a power waster than a consumer, relatively speaking. Food for thought..

[Senior]

Originally Posted by Grapes

I doubt more than 2 or 3 percent of people taking place in events like this aren't also taking more important steps to conserve energy and reduce negative impact on the environment.

Who are these people you and Senior are imagining that go "OK we turned the lights off for an hour, now let's go run over some deer in our SUV!"

have you driven around suburbia lately? it's monster house after monster house with an SUV and a Minivan in the drive way.