Home More advice Environmental Issues
If you could make a difference in looking after our beloved planet, would you be keen to switch your lights off for one hour?
Would your answer be YES or NO?
Saturday 27th March 2010, Earth Hour, Every Hour.
Please support Earth Hour, turn your lights off at 8.30pm for one hour, says we care about planet Earth. ( earthour.org.au or earthhour.org)
Earth Hour started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia when 2.2 million homes and businesses turned their lights off for one hour to make their stand against climate change. Only a year later and Earth Hour had become a global sustainability movement with more than 50 million people across 35 countries participating. (ref: earthhour.org)
while earth hour is a great way for people to start conserving the environment, I still believe that 1 hour each year is not enough when SOME people who do that still maintain the same energy wastage all throughout the year.
Let's admit that its hard to live without electricity because we've been used to it. whenever there are brown outs in my place, I always sleep really early because there's nothing to do. No distractions or entertainment (except when we were kids, telling ghost stories with matching prop candles).
people in my house don't practice earth hour per se. But we dont like wasting electricity. We have a lot of sun; if the lights arent needed, we dont turn on the lights. If the water is already full, we close the faucet. we dont have electric stove, toaster, microwave, dishwasher, washing machine, electric dryer, and other gadgets which purpose may still be served manually. We still use gas stoves, hand washing of clothes and dishes, hanging clothes in the sun (for them to dry), and such. (we do have freezer, tvs, electric fans, computer, lights, mobile phones, and aircon though).
Before we sleep, we make sure that all electric devices which arent needed are turned off (the only thing that's on are freezer and electric fans. we dont like having lights on. We dont even use night light/bed lights. I want total darkness when I sleep.).
It is easy to turn off devices after using, I really wonder why people tend to sleep while some of their devices are still running. :S the computer wont be used while all of the people are already sleeping right? :S
To answer your question sammie, how do I feel about planet earth? I am not really a hardcore nature person. All the reductions we do are more money-driven (less electricity consumption, less electric bill. Etc). But I do believe that climate change is a serious problem which will probably not affect us as much as it will affect the future generations. See, this is the case, because its not an immediate punishment, people tend to waste resources. :S
Will I turn off our lights by 8 30? probably not. But I wont waste electricity (which we dont anyway). As said, its for selfish reasons - to save money. It just so happened that saving electricity benefits the environment.
You have hippies down there too? Neat.
Let's do away with the fiction that conservation and environmental protection has anything to do with saving Planet Earth. Planet Earth has survived through half a dozen extinction events that wiped 99% of all life into extinction, and given time , life always manages to proliferate again. Asteroid impacts, solar flares, magnetic polarity switching -- compared to these events, a 2-degree rise in global temperature is as worrisome to the planet as someone in Michigan dropping a dirty tissue on the ground.
While climate change might be a real problem, it's only a real problem as far as humanity is concerned (and a small percentage of other animals, but let's not pretend that politicians will ever push through alternative energy to save polar bears). If things get worse, our ability to maintain the lifestyle to which we've grown accustomed will become impossible, and if there's one things people hate, it's being slightly inconvenienced.
Do I want to sit in the dark for an hour so we can maintain the status quo? No thank you. In fact, I plan to turn on a light that I wouldn't have just to cancel out the light that you turned off. Why? Because we will never, ever move forward as far as ridding ourselves of the fossil-fuel crutch until we are up against the wall, facing extinction. Nothing moves innovation forward like the threat of imminent death.
Two things about the turning-off-the-lights plan:
1) This would only be an effective plan to combat climate change if you were planning on keeping the lights off permanently. Otherwise, you're merely delaying consumption. It's like the plans a few years ago when gasoline prices were skyrocketing and everyone decided to hold gas protests where they wouldn't buy gas for a day. Well, well and good, but you're just going to have to buy gas the next day instead. If your lights are going to come back on, you've accomplished the same goal as the gas strikes -- postponing the same consumption by 24 hours.
2) Change is good, but change on the level you're talking about is not going to be realized except by way of catastrophe. Fossil fuel use is the basis for the economies of every market - -established and emerging -- on the planet and effects every aspect of life, politics, economics, food consumption, travel, economics, and so forth. You don't just rip all that to shreds and start over from the ground up because you feel bad for melting glaciers. If a country built its economy from scratch without ever once touching a hydrocarbon, people will take notice. Until then, leave your lights on.
As much as I adore you to a tea, mikie mike, but I must admit you are right on the first two paragraphs only and I strongly disagree with your last statement.
Isn't it much better as human beings if we were pro-active before we reached the stage of being in 'threat of imminent death', by then it's too late to do anything. Is it not much better to help prolong the Planet Earth then to sit on our fingers and say 'she's be alright mate, mother Earth will has many trillions years left in her'.
LOL, cheeky devil, switching the lights off does not mean one needs to sit in darkness...Geez, wish I was there to give you a ‘wedgie’ for that comment of yours.
I'ld have to agree with Mik We're just delaying the time needed until we need to find a new source of energy to consume. We have the technology to do so now, but that would cost the big wigs 1000's and 1000's of $, and leave many people out of work. So their not going to do anything until needed. I don't waste electricity, but I'm not going to inconvenient myself either. As for catastrophes that may be caused by the temperature change, I'm an adrenaline junky, I look forward to it. Maybe then something will happen for people to move forward in making a "greener earth". If not, 1000' will probably die and the earth will be a bit "greener" anyways.
edit: sorry I cant access the edit portion on my mobile, I wasnt able to read all of mikeh's post but I agree that the earth will still survive the climate change (I dont have the science to back it up, I just based it on the fact that the earth always survives whatever sh!t people do to it). it will probably transform in terms of what species might thrive in it or the land might have less moisture content or what not. its the people who might not survive it. And if ever people do survive it, the energy source will probably be different by then.
I wonder what will happen if only animals and plants live the earth. It'll probably be like paradise.
I think the turning lights off deal doesn't have a real big impact on Earth. I'd like to do something much, much bigger. According to Mike, turning off the lights would only postpone the use of them. If I have 10 chocolates and I eat 5 a day they would only last 2 days. If I eat 1 a day I'm be much more likely to survive on an island with no food. So yes, the lights thing would work but it's not big enough to really inspire me. I'd probably have to be the head of the organization or directly involved in an organization telling other people to turn off their lights. :)
YES! of course :D what I know is that you dont really have to turn the lights off, the electiricty goes out on its own.. you cant control it .. unless your not in main cities ... .. well that's what "I" know. :) it's tomooorrrooow :D I dunno why but I'm really happy about it :)
My answer is Yes! Also we can avoid switching lights on during dawn, twilight and moonlight. Caution: there can be a security risk to entering a dark empty house or apartment.
my living room lights are never on at night as im playing games and dont want to see the reflection of my lamp shade..
Id have to say yes I would turn out the lights because they are mostly out all tbe tiMe XD
well I like never have my light's on anyways so...yes. =] lol and im a nature girl!
The Bright Future With Solar Panel Use
How You Can Make Your Takeaway Bags More Environmentally Friendly!