Earth Hour

[Andrew Brunelle]

Funniest thing I ever heard, Earth Hour. Like that's going to make a difference. Turning our lights off for ONE HOUR. Big deal. How about turning them off for a day, or a month. Pretty soon, we'll have Earth Minute, then Earth Second. Most people don't care about the Earth anyway, so most people aren't going to do it. The only thing good that could possibly come out of this is that we raise awareness for the global energy crisis, but most people will not do it or put it out of their minds once the hour is up. I think we're just never going to learn about sustainability and living the ways our ancestors lived, with nature and not against it. It's a start, but it's just too short-sighted for my taste.

Earth Hour - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Xanafax]

Earth Hour is a symbol, a symbol of a common goal, practically it is useless in the grand scheme, but in it's way it represents something the people of 50 years ago would not conceive of - a unified Earth.

[aelle]

The idea behing Earth Hour is to raise awareness, not to change things in the course of a single hour. I doubt anyone jumps into world changing environmentalism without easing their way in - turning the lights off for an hour makes turning them off for a day seem more accessible, and so on.

[seeker5]

I agree, it seems pointless to me and maybe even a little dangerous. Something symbolic to make people feel good and give them the illusion they are taking real action. They get together in celebrating shutting down civilization for an hour, without really accomplishing much of anything. Worst, it seems to me to promote shutting down civilization (without electricity we can't have our current civilization) in order to "save" the planet - it seems to promote a scarcity mentality rather then an abundance mentality of going for solutions.

Furthermore, they are shutting down my school gym several hours tonight earlier because of this Earth Hour. Not that I normally use it on Saturday evenings anyway (maybe I never have), but it feels irritating to have it shut down because of this Earth Hour. Is this a sign of future things to come? Where they shut down facilities and disrupt people's lives needlessly to promote "saving electricity"?

I'm surprised at how quickly it's spread though - they are shutting down the external lights of a lot of cities, including all the external Casino lights of the Las Vegas strip.

I'm keeping all my lights on tonight.

[Erin Pavlina]

Maybe it's a reminder to people that individually they can do something to help the planet, to take part in the saving of our planet, and to appreciate what they have so they don't waste it. I personally think it's an awesome expression of power (pun intended)

[wachusettgirl]

Originally Posted by Erin Pavlina

Maybe it's a reminder to people that individually they can do something to help the planet, to take part in the saving of our planet, and to appreciate what they have so they don't waste it. I personally think it's an awesome expression of power (pun intended)

I completely agree, it may be a small sacrifice, but it's a sacrifice nontheless. Anything that reminds us to think about and be grateful for our resources is definately a positive step.

[Inthon]

"Participants spend an enjoyable sixty minutes in the dark, safe in the knowledge that the life-saving benefits of industrial civilization are just a light switch away... Forget one measly hour with just the lights off. How about Earth Month... Try spending a month shivering in the dark without heating, electricity, refrigeration; without power plants or generators; without any of the labor-saving, time-saving, and therefore life-saving products that industrial energy makes possible." - Ayn Rand Institute

[Channing]

The problem arises when this leads to people actually thinking in terms of scarcity and not abundance. Another problem is the fear of carbon dioxide which is often promoted, which is simply not a problem.

There is plenty of pollution-free energy in the quantum vacume around us. We just need to build the machines to access it. Of course the energy cartels have absolutely no interest in letting such machines become commonplace.

George Orwell described similar globalized events like this in his book 1984, albeit for a more negative purpose:
Two Minutes Hate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Indiana]

Or you could use Earth Hour to unscrew just one incandescent light bulb and replace it with an energy-saving one, and then even if you use that bulb three hours a day every day for the rest of the year, you will still save more than 20 times as much power and greenhouse gases as you would having every electrical appliance in your house switched off for Earth Hour.

Now THAT's making a difference.

[Inthon]

Forget one measly hour with just the lights off. How about Earth Month, without any form of fossil fuel energy? Try spending a month shivering in the dark without heating, electricity, refrigeration; without power plants or generators; without any of the labor-saving, time-saving, and therefore life-saving products that industrial energy makes possible.

[vMike]

hypocrisy rules!

[Brutha]

I agree, it seems pointless to me and maybe even a little dangerous. Something symbolic to make people feel good and give them the illusion they are taking real action.

People who have the illusion that they are taking action are much more likely to say 'yes' when somebody ask them to do something for the environment.
That's basically Robert Cialdini's principle of consistency.

[Lil Chris]

Originally Posted by Channing

The problem arises when this leads to people actually thinking in terms of scarcity and not abundance. Another problem is the fear of carbon dioxide which is often promoted, which is simply not a problem.

There is plenty of pollution-free energy in the quantum vacuum around us. We just need to build the machines to access it. Of course the energy cartels have absolutely no interest in letting such machines become commonplace.

George Orwell described similar globalized events like this in his book 1984, albeit for a more negative purpose:
Two Minutes Hate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I like the way you think... Free energy suppression - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Eric Roosevelt]

Originally Posted by seeker5

I agree, it seems pointless to me and maybe even a little dangerous.

Quite literally. Switching all the lights on and off at the same time can put huge pressure on a city's electricity grid.