Well, I'm NOT sitting in the dark for any Earth Hour. So shoot me.

[Redstone]

I need light to read by. And if I cranked up the Aladdin lamp (which runs on kerosene), I'd probably be putting more bad crap into the air than I would by having an electric light on (every single light in my house is a CFL, in case you were wondering; I changed over back when they were still expensive).

A nice gesture, maybe, but I'll invite myself out, thank you very much.

Redstone

[Inchworm]

1. Me either

Us non-conformists have to stick together.

I'd rather do my part every day anyhow :D

:hi:

[WritingIsMyReligion]

2. I'm in the dark but for my desk lamp.

And mah CPU, obviously.

Turned off all the lights on timers, too, even though they'll be fucked up for a week. Aren't I just a greenie?

:P

:hi:

[Rising Phoenix]

3. same here

I am not going to sit in the dark, when I do my part everyday....it hypocritical, in my opinion, to leave every light in your house on everyday, and then think you are changing the world because you do without for one hour....just my two cents

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. My dear Redstone!

No shooting allowed!

I'm with you...

DU is just too damn important...

:hug:

[terrya]

5. I have the television on and my pc....but that's it.

I'm not going to sit in the dark.

[Redstone]

8. Yes, the whole thing is kind of an empty gesture, especially given that if people would

change all their light bulbs to CFLs, they'd save that much energy worldwide in just about an hour.

Redstone

[tigereye]

23. that's what my husband said

he changed over a lot of our bulbs years ago...

[bigwillq]

6. Me neither.

I am at work. Can't really shut down here but even if I weren't at work, I would probably be watching these NCAA hoops games...maybe the lights would be off but the TV would still be on.

Have a nice night. :) :hi:

[Redstone]

7. And hey, if you have an LCD TV, you're pretty damn green anyway. I was surprised to learn

that the LVD TV that Mrs R got for a Christmas bonus last year only uses 100 watts when it's on, and less than half a watt on standby.

Beats the bejabbers out of the 15-year-old tube TV it replaced, even though it's a larger screen.

Redstone

[bigwillq]

10. Are those the TVs we have to all buy next year

or our TVs won't work? :shrug: I am confused.

[Redstone]

13. No, LCD is just the display construction. Same as a laptop's screen, and MUCH more

energy-efficient than a plasma display (some of those draw as much as 1000 watts of power).

What you're thinking about is the changeover to digital broadcasting, instead of the current analog broadcasts, like any of us ever asked for THAT.

But the people from our Government know what's best for us, so that's what is going to happen.

Redstone

[greatauntoftriplets]

9. I have a light on so I can find my way to the moderator hot tub.

Otherwise, I might fall in.

;)

[Rising Phoenix]

14. tough life

:hi:

[Redstone]

15. No, you don't want to fall in. You want to step in gracefully, and to do that, you need

to be able to see where you're stepping.

Redstone

[Mike03]

11. Me neither. I try really hard to conserve electricity and propane, but

tonight just happens to coincide with a caner CURE-a-THON that I can only watch on my computer. So I'm damned if I will log off tonight.

Also, I am for the most part a vegan, so I rarely cook.

I'm with you on this one, for sure.

[KitchenWitch]

12. Sun is still out here...

I do my part, just not today.

[Rising Phoenix]

16. I told my sister about earth hour at about 8:55.....

she turned off the kitchen light and I said "Hey, mom says its depressing when I smoke in the dark!" :rofl: she actually said that

[Redstone]

21. Smoking in the dark just doesn't work, for some reason. For me, anyway.

Redstone

[Ahpook]

17. I did it for nothing else than something i probably should do..

more often:)

We smoked a doobie and i played an acoustic guitar for the remainder.

I am thoroughly spoiled from the electric:)

[SPKrazy]

18. I've got to

find my way to walmart

[LeftyMom]

19. I won't be.

I conserve what I can all the time. Sitting around in the dark for an hour isn't going to solve anything, and I'm not into pointless gestures.

[Redstone]

Oh, yes. I would have expected no less than such an intelligent post from you.

"Lefty" and vegan though you may be (which some people might criticize, but not me), you have proved yourself to be one hardheaded, practical woman all throughout my acquaintence with you on DU.

And I admire that. Any man (hey, muscly guy, are you listening?) who gets your attention should count himself lucky, indeed.

Redstone

[LeftyMom]

37. Most of our power is hydro anyhow.

So it's not really a global warming issue. Habitat loss, water issues? Sure, but the dam's already there (and if it wasn't, most of my town would be a swamp, so we're kinda stuck with it.)

Unless there's sufficiently widescale participation that the local power plant can reduce production, there's no real effect at all, even if the local plant is something ghastly like coal.

My worry is that people who get roped into meaningless stuff like this think they've actually done their part. Or that when they figure out how meaningless acts like this are, they'll be less likely to follow up with something significant. The funny thing is, with minor modification, this could have some effect. Just get everybody to shut off their AC for an hour in the summer. Better yet, a whole day. Then a whole bunch of dirty "peaker" plants can lie dormant, carbon emissions would go down a bit, and people who learned coping strategies other than keeping a house arctic cold in August might reduce their power in the long term. Or encouraging people to park their cars for the weekend, or to eat a plant-based diet and talking about the impact of their diet on their carbon footprint, or...

But sitting around in the dark for an hour at a time when consumption is already low? Kinda useless.

[Random_Australian]

20. Oooooh, you should have seen my city.

It was so great. Of course, the company was great too (playing board games with friends by candlelight)

Since Sydney takes it so seriously, there was a LOT of lights out, and it looked great.

(Sydney takes it seriously because it started it)

[Gormy Cuss]

22. A comparative shot ...

Sydney skyline before and during:

[Redstone]

25. But, but...how many hydrocarbons were released by those candles, as opposed to

the ones that would have been produced by the electrical power plants?

THAT is my question. The "old ways" are not necessarily the best ways.

Redstone

[Random_Australian]

30. Candles? Probably the same or more.

I think you may be missing something. Is not the point to get people involved and aware about global warming, and more the point to make it clear to the government just how many are involved?

Who cares about reducing emissions for one hour? Compared to the rest of the year it means very little.

Or, to be more exact, social inertia is a huge problem. This is one of the ways of going against it.

[Redstone]

32. Uh, no, I have to diagree with you here. If the point is to get people "involved" about

Global Warming, why have them spend an hour using a source of light that contributes more to such?

Redstone

[Random_Australian]

35. Awareness. Of just how much light we use.

There are lights that are nearly always on at night. It is only when you see the city without them that you realise just how much flipping energy we are using.

That helps with a sense of scale. A lot. It makes it clear that humans have an impact.

And since using candles = lots of people huddled around a few candles, it is social. Social awareness to overcome social inertia.

There were, what, maybe seven or so small candles and 20-25 people? No biggie.

Actually, probably the best way to make my point is to ask you for an alternative symbol for the same effect.

Not bieng snarky here, but would you provide an example of an activity that will get as many involved, and demonstrate how much power we use as effectively?

[Redstone]

41. Not being snarky here either, but you have a point, indeed. Awareness DOES count.

doing SOMETHING is better than doing nothing.

Even if this "Earth Hour" is meaningless in and of itself for the whole "global warming" problem, it will not be useless in the long run if it gets people to think about the problem, and maybe go out and replace some of their incandescent lightbulbs with CFLs.

Redstone

[Ptah]

24. It may be out of your control.

Glasgow, Montana, 1978

[Gormy Cuss]

26. Eh, it's an easy enough gesture.

The TV will be on because of the NCAA game but no lights. The symbolic gesture may actually get a few people thinking about energy conservation, so I'll forgo reading or other light-intensive activities just for the heck of it.

I will go to the top of my backyard slope and watch the lights dim in Berkeley.

[Lex]

27. It was fun! We shut off all the lights

and then went for a walk for almost the whole hour.

We are pretty conservation-oriented anyway on a daily basis, and we wanted to participate in this as well.

[Cannikin]

28. I'm running two pcs, a large lcd tv with dvd player, a high powered fan to cool the gaming pc...

I think I failed to participate this year. :hide:


on edit...but only my oven vent light is on, and its a cfl!

[Redstone]

29. You Freeper, you!

Redstone

[democracyindanger]

31. Your brightly lit silhouette should make a nice target.

I'm on it.

[Pale Blue Dot]

33. I'm not sure that I understand why you'd post this. nt

[PeaceNikki]

40. Cuz it’s cool to be contrary?

:shrug:

I'm a loner Dottie, a rebel

[Redstone]

42. You expect me to be able to explain why I do anything? Don't know me that well,

do you?

I'm likely the most random person you'll ever encounter. There simply are no explanations, nor have there ever been any.

Makes for a crooked road through life, that does, but one with interesting things to see and do on the way.

Redstone

[Zorro]

34. Me neither

UNC vs. UL is on.

I'm doing my part, anyway. I had solar panels installed this month, and am putting more power back into the grid than I use.

[Ava]

36. i have my lights in my room and bathroom out, but other than that

it isn't up to me since i live with 5 other people.

then again, i'm probably the only person in my town that knows about it.

[AwakeAtLast]

38. I'm moving my hour to right after I go to bed.

;)

I do like the fact that whole cities are making a statement and trying to raise awareness though. Maybe they will come up with something better next time.

[Pacifist Patriot]

39. Aw crap, I forgot. I was watching "3 Days of the Condor"

Which by the way is mildly prophetic....just saying.