Earth Hour

[Red_Comet]

well, it's been about 2 years since the last one. I didn't know too much about what it was all about 2 years ago and here I am looking at an email I got when I subscribed to it 2 years ago. It really has me thinking of how much energy is wasted and how much it ruins the planet just wasting resources when they can be conserved by simply flipping a power switch.

http://www.earthhour.org

After reading through much of the mission statement, I felt that I should bring it to others attention that we as a race trying to survive on a day to day basis are still consuming more and more resources, and it's ruining the ecosystem as well as the economic state of the world. If you aren't too worried about the world resources, go on google or yahoo or any reliable search engine and ask how many natural resources we are consuming hourly, they'll give you an accurate estimate. We should stop this, and Earth Hour is trying to bring this to our attention, as am I by supporting it and spreading the word on the net.

How often do you have no power running through your house? maybe 2 minutes all together, it really adds up if you add in the neighborhood, and you can see a big difference of how much energy is used state wide, and so forth onto the nation, and etc etc until you've looked at the entire world. It all adds up and in the end, we're consuming more than we need to and that'll kill us in the end. So all I'm asking you to do, besides read this wall of text of is click the link, read through the site, and possibly sign up and spread the word some more.

tl;dr click the link if you like the Earth and read the first bolded words on the site

[~HentaiXXX~]

I would if my mom would agree. >____________>

[perkeyone]

earth hour seems like a legit cause
but at the same time its not enough
i mean 1 hour
will that allow us to maintain resources one hour long than if we hadnt done earth hour?
a much more significant change can be accomplished
with smaller changes over a long period of time
a small change could be as simple as shutting down the computer at night
and the time frame could be every night for the rest of you life

[Squeek]

It's pointless don't even bother.

Just environmental nuts trying to make themselves feel better by making others feel worse about not participating.

[NFD]

I sit outside and read on my trampoline. For hours at a time.

[Red_Comet]

Originally Posted by ~HentaiXXX~

I would if my mom would agree. >____________>

It's all good, just let people know that it's something that does take place, ignorance is not bliss in this case

Originally Posted by perkeyone

earth hour seems like a legit cause
but at the same time its not enough
i mean 1 hour
will that allow us to maintain resources one hour long than if we hadnt done earth hour?
a much more significant change can be accomplished
with smaller changes over a long period of time
a small change could be as simple as shutting down the computer at night
and the time frame could be every night for the rest of you life

it's an event, an event is supposed to inform, nothing more.

Originally Posted by Squeek

It's pointless don't even bother.

Just environmental nuts trying to make themselves feel better by making others feel worse about not participating.

this is what's great about public forums no? always incorporating all the spectrums of an argument.

Originally Posted by NFD

I sit outside and read on my trampoline. For hours at a time.

must have nice weather there NFD.

[Noras]

Originally Posted by Squeek

It's pointless don't even bother.

Just environmental nuts trying to make themselves feel better by making others feel worse about not participating.

I have to agree here.
Saying, "hey let's turn off the electrical stuff for an hour to save some energy and hence the entire Earth" is, although ambitious, stupid. I don't know who they think they're fooling (other than the OP it seems ).

Also, it's not really informing anyone about anything; if anything, it's gonna make someone pissed off when they lose a huge unsaved document to a bunch of hippies shutting off electricity.

[Sgtzombie.]

Yes yes, got the mail through the post this morning. It's a wonderful idea and I'm in 110%. Yes, it will make a difference, a HUGE difference and it will look awesome, if you live in a city you'll actually be able to see the stars instead of that hideous orange glow from light pollution. I know I'll be going to the top of Wilford hill to see if anyone does actually join in. It's a good thing to do and it doesn't require any effort... It's only an hour, it's not that hard.

Noras: Actually, it is informing people of how precious our finite resources are. Turning off lights and electrical appliances for an hour... you'll have to find something else to do that doesn't require so much energy. It will also make you realise how many things in your home actually rely on electricity and how much energy you're wasting and how much money you could be saving.
It's possible that one day there will be restriction on how much energy you can use as the resource of fossil fuels has run out and no one has done a thing about renewable energy. Oops, your energy quota for the day has been reached, damn.. and I really wanted that last porn DL.. too bad.
In the long run, it saves everyone money, less energy required, power stations generate less energy- and atmosphere pollution, they don't need to buy in more resources such as coal, the sources build up again and everyone's happy.

I suggest you learn a bit about pollution and finite resources before you go making such assumptions.

/Environmental Scientist.

[Squeek]

Originally Posted by Sgtzombie.

Yes yes, got the mail through the post this morning. It's a wonderful idea and I'm in 110%. Yes, it will make a difference, a HUGE difference and it will look awesome, if you live in a city you'll actually be able to see the stars instead of that hideous orange glow from light pollution. I know I'll be going to the top of Wilford hill to see if anyone does actually join in. It's a good thing to do and it doesn't require any effort... It's only an hour, it's not that hard.

Noras: Actually, it is informing people of how precious our finite resources are. Turning off lights and electrical appliances for an hour... you'll have to find something else to do that doesn't require so much energy. It will also make you realise how many things in your home actually rely on electricity and how much energy you're wasting and how much money you could be saving.
It's possible that one day there will be restriction on how much energy you can use as the resource of fossil fuels has run out and no one has done a thing about renewable energy. Oops, your energy quota for the day has been reached, damn.. and I really wanted that last porn DL.. too bad.
In the long run, it saves everyone money, less energy required, power stations generate less energy- and atmosphere pollution, they don't need to buy in more resources such as coal, the sources build up again and everyone's happy.

I suggest you learn a bit about pollution and finite resources before you go making such assumptions.

/Environmental Scientist.

lol

Prepare for massive disappointment. You will not be able to see any stars at all and the city won't change much.

You could inform the entire world about this effort to the point that everyone knows it's coming and remembers the time and day, but even then only a tiny fraction of the world with even bother to turn off even the most basic appliances.

We are dependent upon electricity. No matter what, even at the very best effort everyone in the world provides, at least 70% of our electronics will still be on. We need clean clothes and kitchenware. We need frozen food, we need refrigerated food, we need warm food, and we need hot food. We need heat and air conditioning.

But even with that, good luck convincing non-environmental nuts (ie: 99.9% of the world) that this is a worthwhile effort.

Also, we're hardly pushing the limitations of usage of electricity. I suggest you look up finite resources, because electricity is not one of them.

The world is not nearly as bad as environmental nuts claim it is.

[Sgtzombie.]

Originally Posted by Squeek

lol

Prepare for massive disappointment. You will not be able to see any stars at all and the city won't change much.

You could inform the entire world about this effort to the point that everyone knows it's coming and remembers the time and day, but even then only a tiny fraction of the world with even bother to turn off even the most basic appliances.

We are dependent upon electricity. No matter what, even at the very best effort everyone in the world provides, at least 70% of our electronics will still be on. We need clean clothes and kitchenware. We need frozen food, we need refrigerated food, we need warm food, and we need hot food. We need heat and air conditioning.

But even with that, good luck convincing non-environmental nuts (ie: 99.9% of the world) that this is a worthwhile effort.

Also, we're hardly pushing the limitations of usage of electricity. I suggest you look up finite resources, because electricity is not one of them.

The world is not nearly as bad as environmental nuts claim it is.

'lol'

Never been in a blackout? Of course not. Stars? What are stars? Never heard of them.

Hey, at least they're trying, doesn't hurt to try.

I think the term I used most was energy, not electricity. I know we're dependent on electricity, and turning off will make people realise and what the heck are they going to do when we can't generate the ENERGY required to power all this crap.
And no, we don't need all those things listed, some yes, but not all. They are available to us as people have made advances in technology but not considered the consequences of over exploitation. All I can think of.. how to put it... "lol air conditioning". People have just taken everything for granted and now we're running out of these resources.

As I said, doesn't hurt to try.

I suggest you READ more carefully and not confuse electricity with ENERGY.

Let's see. Answers.com

Dictionary: en·er·gy (ĕn'ər-jē) pronunciation

# The capacity for work or vigorous activity; vigor; power. See synonyms at strength.
#

1. Exertion of vigor or power: a project requiring a great deal of time and energy.
2. Vitality and intensity of expression: a speech delivered with energy and emotion.#

1. Usable heat or power: Each year Americans consume a high percentage of the world's energy.
2. A source of usable power, such as petroleum or coal.

I see no electricity there, gosh.

[Adamaja456]

Originally Posted by Squeek

We are dependent upon electricity. No matter what, even at the very best effort everyone in the world provides, at least 70% of our electronics will still be on. We need clean clothes and kitchenware. We need frozen food, we need refrigerated food, we need warm food, and we need hot food. We need heat and air conditioning.

That is the exactly mindset which makes Earth Hour impossible to achieve to the high level. Sure we may depend on electricity but give me a break, nobody is so dependent on electricity that they cannot turn everything off for an hour.

and we dont need any of that. over 1 billion people in the world dont have electricity, frozen food, hot food, and AIR CONDITIONING. They manage to survive

[Squeek]

Ok, so I'm the one confusing energy with electricity. What does turning off electronic appliances save? It saves electricity.

If you want to save energy, you have ride a bike or leave your heat off. Those use fossil fuels. Generating electricity does not. Hydroelectric dams, windmills, solar, etc. are all used to generate a large portion of our electricity needs (albeit pointlessly since Nuclear energy could grant a much larget output of electricity at a fraction of the cost and scope)

We've already done our part. All of our lightbulbs are now compact fluorescent. We've planted at least a dozen trees in our yard. We use biological waste (fruit leftovers, etc) to make compost for growing our own food. None of that impacts my daily life in any way. Asking me to have less fun for an hour just to "save energy" cuts into my daily life, and I fail to see a value in doing so.

Also, I live in the woods, so I see the stars every night. I can't even see my neighbor's house from my own. When the power goes out here, it is pitch black everywhere. It happens often because lightning storms knock over trees, which fall onto power lines.

You're totally missing my point though. Turning off a light switch for an hour isn't the way to save the world (despite the fact that it doesn't need saving BUT I DIGRESS). If you really want to make a difference, you need to educate people who carelessly waste both electricity and energy. These ads that environmental groups keep airing are just stupid. "Take shorter showers!" No. You can't change people's opinions by cutting into their enjoyment. You just have to say "hey, you're not going to be in this room for a while anyway, why don't you turn off the lights?" That's not hard. Some of the ads have been good, like trying to explain to people that modern electronics don't turn off unless you unplug them. That's useful in so many ways--it lowers their electricity bills and saves a little bit of production costs.

[Sgtzombie.]

There is plenty of education out there, but people just choose to ignore it as they think one person won't make the difference. They're right, they don't, but if people weren't so skeptical, then action would have been taken a lot sooner and there wouldn't been the need to drill all this information into the media, constantly. Turning off for an hour would show how many people actually pay attention for said education.

Back to electricity. Most of it is generated by fossil fuels. Only a low percentage is created by renewable sources, due to location or financial issues. For some areas, using renewable sources like Geothermal, HEP, Wave and Tidal forms are perfect and a lot more cost effective than building a coal powered station where the finite resources have to be imported. Solar is tricky. The amount of energy they actually produce is quite pathetic. You need a good few solar panels to generate enough electricity to power some, maybe most simple appliances. I know one or two can provide enough electricity to make hot water... and it's not always sunny.
Fossil fuels will still be the number one, unless you live in one of those amazing houses that has 0% carbon emissions. They're pretty nifty actually, Hockerton Housing project. http://www.hockertonhousingproject.org.uk/ You might want to look at that, it's pretty interesting.

What I think the whole turning off thing is going to achieve is to make people aware of how many things they leave on stand by, or just have on because it's there. It's not trying to be the all in one answer to a much bigger problem. It's a start.
Leaving things on stand by wastes a lot more energy than actually having the appliance turned on. Think about it, when you turn off a PC, do you just turn it off or do you hit the mains switch, too?

Good for you, you're already doing your part. But one person can't solve everything. It's cheesy, but it has to be done as a group effort. Think about it, their goal is 1 billion people. They probably won't reach as most people take the same view as you, but even if they get around 1 million people to turn off for an hour, the power companies will see a difference in demand. Unless the only people who actually participate are spread far apart, then there will be less of a difference, but at least they're trying, right?

But back to the original statement. It is informative. They're just going about it in a different way.
This may not be for you, but it's a good idea, in my opinion.

[magicalinternet]

I'm going to turn on everything in my house during this. although there's a possibility of my house exploding