Whos turning their lights off tonight for earth hour, not me

[The Lurker]

Jezz eat dinner and all heck breaks loose. Go figure.

Hmm Should I be in the dark and log off in 3 mins??? lol NOT!

 

[pencilneckgeek]

The time is NOW.

 

[papasmerf]

The time is NOW.

If you can read this you are not doing your part

 

[The Lurker]

If you can read this you are not doing your part

The only building in the whole of the south of Fat Cat City that is out looks to be Carlton Uni.

 

[bangcamaro]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7092989.stm

That's per capita... China has a population of over 1.3 billion. Do the math.

 

[AdrenalinJunkie]

My question is, which is worse from a carbon dioxide viewpoint, a light or two, or several candles spread around. The problem with the enviroment is there are no clear answers, just a lot of trade-offs.

 

[Aardvark154]

Anything's debatable.

Raccoons, squirrels, mice and the like are happy to have human activity to give them easy access to food and living spaces. Without us they'd have to go back to living in uninsulated trees and holes in the ground and have to forage for food instead of visiting the pantry or garbage cans.

And until the past few years what about honey bees!

 

[pencilneckgeek]

If you can read this you are not doing your part

I'm typing in candlelight.

 

[papasmerf]

I'm typing in candlelight.

Bastard

 

[pencilneckgeek]

Bastard

It was a gift from my sexy neighbour. She's big on these kind of issues.

 

[papasmerf]

It was a gift from my sexy neighbour. She's big on these kind of issues.

You lit a candle shaped like my penis?

 

[pencilneckgeek]

You lit a candle shaped like my penis?

Has it ever been on fire?

 

[papasmerf]

Has it ever been on fire?

not in 30 years

 

[JessiMae]

I am only turning off (and unplugging) not needed lights. Right now I am in the dark, but my computer is on (obviously).

 

[stang]

I'm scared !

 

[shakenbake]

I'm turning off the lights and burning a few candles.
But I won't be at home and I won't be alone.

Burning candles contribute directly to greenhouse gas emissions!

 

[The Lurker]

Wow you Torontonians are funny. Got the window open, the heat on and all my lights warming up the place. Oh and got the amp cranked to 11 too

Yeah I know, my neighbours hate me too...

 

[shakenbake]

The general people are not to blame because of all this pollution. Most pollution comes from commercial companies waste, and wasting resources, industrial pollution, and the biggie, China. Instead of pitting all this responsibility on the average person, the media, government and activists should look at the real players. They need to invest in improving efficiency to create less waste and create less pollution.

It's not the North American mentality. It's China and their huge population and the massive amount of pollution coming from the industrial sectors there. Think about it. Everything is made in China, do you know how much pollution is created there alone? I'm not going to go and look it up for you guys, but if you guys are interested in this stuff, research it. You'll be surprised.

Right.

And, who, pray tell, is buying the good that China produces from all this waste and destruction?

In engineering, there is an activity called Life Cycle Analysis. Read up about that before you lay the blame solely on China and the big industries. Why the hell are they in existence and doing what they are doing that contributes to the pollution? What is the disincentive to do anything about it?

Remember, for every finger of blame that is pointed, there are three pointing back at the source.

 

[Anynym]

I think the people who are objecting to the Earthhour are missing the point. It is not about how much we are going to save in an hour, it is to bring awareness to everyone that human activities have direct impact to the environment and ultimately the earth where we all live. It is fine if you don't want to participate. Just like it is your right to drive your hugh Hummer to the corner store to get a bag of milk, but don't slight the people who is trying to make a difference.

But it's not touted that way.

Earth Hour 2007 in Sydney is cited as a great success, cutting so many tonnes of GHG emissions. They refer to it as pulling so many thousands of cars off the road for an hour. But if I read it correctly, it was the equivalent of flying a single airplane flight with about 14 fewer passengers.

Nobody who sees Earth Day as important seems to care that more GHGs are likely to be emitted by the increased newsprint and ink, by the candles, by the associated activities than is "saved" by turning off a few lights for an hour (even if it's as large as a 10% reduction in consumption for that hour).

If it's valuable to you to conserve, then use 60W light bulbs instead of 100W. Use 35W instead of either 60W or 100W. Never eat out, and never cook, but eat raw food at home.

Responsible consumption and conservation are good goals but they are not achieved by irresponsible hype and misstatements.

 

[bangcamaro]

Right.
Why the hell are they in existence and doing what they are doing that contributes to the pollution? What is the disincentive to do anything about it?

Money. The same reason the electric car is dead and cars still run on gas.
Money. These corporations will continue to industrialize China, and China will continue to pollute.

To put in a whole infrastructure and change methods of production would costs hundreds of billions of dollars. That's the disincentive. And we definitely have the technology and capabilities to do this.

So instead they try to make the average American the culprit. Don't get me wrong, you're right, Americans pollute a hell of a lot too, and create a lot of waste, but it seems like the U.S. is the center of the universe when it comes to global warming talk or talk about stopping pollution. When in fact, governments, media, and activists should be shifting the focus of cutting down on waste and pollution onto industrial corporations and China, and industrial corporations IN China.