Earth hour

[duaneb9729]

I was talking to my mother about how folks are being "green", shes 80, and replied to me that folks used to call it saving their money and it was a normal part of growing up on the farm to not waste.

personally, i am not going to turn my lights off, i do that all day, and i "get" conservation.

I have to wonder or ponder will folks stay at home and sit in the dark for an hour? will they go for a drive, i guess my real question is will folks be using up some othe resource while their house is dark?

 

[1sttruck]

The amount of lights on at night are pretty stupid. Long empty stretches of road are lit up like parking lot malls, and what's so dumb is that it's actually blinding when it's raining out as I can see the road better with no street lights. I use to be able to easily see the split in the Milky Way off of my deck when I moved here in the early 90s, now it's like being some sort of security compound. But, people are like bugs, they like the light.

I spent some time a former mining camp in north central Washington a few years back, and brought along a small telescope as the map indicated that the skies could be pretty good. Talking with a math professor after a lecture that he gave we came up with the idea to put on a small star party, and a number of people turned out. We went over how to look thru the telescope, mentioned that it would take a few minutes for eyes to adapt, and when we turned off the lights in that area of the camp a wave of exclamations rippled thru the crowd. In astronomy it's interesting that young or old, punk or businessman, a common comment that I hear is 'oh my god'. As I started pointing out different objects I mentioned that these were superb skies, the best that I'd been under, and that I could see objects naked eye that were notoriously difficult to see with binoculars or telescopes elsewhere.

It was kind of sad that no one had ventured away from the camp at night to see something that is largely gone.

 

[oilyriser]

Maybe when high powered LEDs get cheap, street lights can all have motion detectors on them, so they will only light up as you drive by, or when the coons are crossing.

 

[StevieC]

Originally Posted By: Kestas
Truthfully, I raised my awareness on electricity usage during the Blackout of Aug 2003. During that time I realized how I can do many things in the dark. The things I learned during the blackout stuck with me.


+1

I was without power up here for 4 days... Sucked big time!

 

[Pop_Rivit]

Earth hour huh?

Must be the economy taking it's toll. I remember when it used to be Earth day.

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

Earth hour is really foolish, to say the least. The earth doesn't need our hour.

The earth is some 4.55 billion years old. That means the earth has been around for 38,858,000,072,270 hours (4.55 billion years to the year 2000, then 8.25 years thereafter).

Taking 1 hour out for "earth day" makes 38,858,000,072,269 hours...(nearly 39 Trillion hours). I don't think the earth is going to notice anything at all.

Pure foolishness and self-gratification to ease the tension of falsely & self-imposed guilt.

 

[rpn453]

The street looks pretty dark right now, but I've got all the usual lights on here, including the five CFLs that light up the front and back yard. I'll accept complaints from anyone who spends as little as I do!

 

[moribundman]

When I look outside my street is now pretty dark with relatively few windows lit. The city looks 1/3 to 1/2 as bright compared to normally, as far as I can tell from here.

I got my usual living room light on: one 100 W equivalent CFL, and the computer is running with the screen at 30% brightness (as usual).

 

[MarkC]

Originally Posted By: ToyotaNSaturn
Earth hour is really foolish, to say the least. The earth doesn't need our hour.

The earth is some 4.55 billion years old. That means the earth has been around for 38,858,000,072,270 hours (4.55 billion years to the year 2000, then 8.25 years thereafter).

Taking 1 hour out for "earth day" makes 38,858,000,072,269 hours...(nearly 39 Trillion hours). I don't think the earth is going to notice anything at all.

Pure foolishness and self-gratification to ease the tension of falsely & self-imposed guilt.


Sort of like going to church on Sunday and feeling good about yourself, despite the way you've behaved all week?

 

[Pablo]

Am I supposed to turn off the lights now?

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

Originally Posted By: MarkC


Sort of like going to church on Sunday and feeling good about yourself, despite the way you've behaved all week?


Well, only if you subscribe to that sorta thing.

 

[moribundman]

T&S, what always strikes me as strange when reading your posts regarding any kind of topic that has to do with the concept of conservation, environment, and other "green" concerns is that you will invariably point at the fact that the Earth has existed for a long time and that we can't destroy it. Well, I'll gladly that give you that short of nuking the planet to bits (An international, times effort would be required

), we truly can't destroy the Earth, but I will also point out that it's never really about saving the Earth: it's about saving our own species, nothing more, nothing less. The Earth will be swallowed by an ever expanding red giant long after all life on Earth has been burnt to cinders. Maybe this prospect makes you think one should live like there's no tomorrow?

And what's wrong with a sign of solidarity? Even if it's just a mere gesture with little or no physical benefit, it may well make people more aware of conservation and preservation issues. A little kid may well be impressed seeing his surroundings in darkness. He or she may next time turn the light off when leaving a room. Besides, being able to observe the Milky Way from a backyard or rooftop in the city is nice. Of course, why bother checking that out...

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

Then why call it Earth Day when it has nothing to do about earth. It should be called Human Day or something like that. Cloaking it as an earth problem is like calling a trillion dollar pork-barrel spending bill a "stimulus package".

 

[MarkC]

I find it strange that so many followers of a certain religion seem to ridicule ( or worse) any effort to avoid screwing up the place. After all, seems like we should take care of what we've allegedly been given.

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

Sure it's a good idea! But not for political purposes.

 

[Liquid_Turbo]

Originally Posted By: moribundman
T&S, what always strikes me as strange when reading your posts regarding any kind of topic that has to do with the concept of conservation, environment, and other "green" concerns is that you will invariably point at the fact that the Earth has existed for a long time and that we can't destroy it.


IBTL. (In before the lock).

Moribund. Please. Keep your opinions to yourself. Comments like yours are designed to generate a reaction?

Use your head a little. We can't destroy earth? Why do we bother to clean up oil spills?

 

[moribundman]

Originally Posted By: Liquid_Turbo
Moribund. Please. Keep your opinions to yourself.


I. Will. Most. Certainly. Not. Do. Such. A. Thing. If you don't care to read opinions, then you should not be on an internet forum.


Originally Posted By: Liquid_Turbo
Use your head a little. We can't destroy earth? Why do we bother to clean up oil spills?


Use your eyes and read exactly what I wrote. Then use your superior brain to figure out the meaning.

 

[Liquid_Turbo]

Originally Posted By: moribundman
Originally Posted By: Liquid_Turbo
Moribund. Please. Keep your opinions to yourself.


I. Will. Most. Certainly. Not. Do. Such. A. Thing. If you don't care to read opinions, then you should not be on an internet forum.


Originally Posted By: Liquid_Turbo
Use your head a little. We can't destroy earth? Why do we bother to clean up oil spills?


Use your eyes and read exactly what I wrote. Then use your superior brain to figure out the meaning.

Oops. I read your post far too fast. Let me redact my comment

But honestly. Earth Hour is only meant to create awareness. It's primary goal is not to save power for an hour.

 

[moribundman]

Originally Posted By: Liquid_Turbo
Earth Hour is only meant to create awareness. It's primary goal is not to save power for an hour.


That's what I said in my post, among other things, Quickdraw.

 

[Tempest]

Turning the lights off in cities sounds great if you want to increase crime. I think any savings you might get from unused electricity would be more than made up for in higher crime....especially if this became a regular, scheduled event.

It's simply a way to indoctrinate people into a false movement and make people feel good about doing nothing.