Earth Hour - March 29th 2008, 20:00hrs Local Time

OK, I see there are a LOT of peolple of the mindset that I am afraid for the planet and that it needs saving. Believe it or not, I agree that it is not earth itself that needs saving but us.

Please do not attack me for bringing this to your attention. I'm not the one who came up with this idea but I discovered it and thought that ATS would be a good place to create awareness of it.

Do you actually think that turning off our lights at the same time will blow up power stations? Don't be ridiculous. I doubt that everyone will turn them back on at EXACTLY the same second to cause that kind of problem. If you choose not to take part then that is your choice but when you see your lights flicker at 9pm just be aware that you are one of the many ignorant people who would rather keep pumping CO2 and other pollutants into the atmosphere than inconvenience yourself for a short while.

Global warming is a natural process, I agree. However we are speeding up the process. If you believe that it is a conspiracy to tax us more then that should surely be reason more to take part. At the end of the day, the less energy you use, the less you will pay and the cleaner the air that you and your children breath everyday. Seriously.. what harm can it do? NONE!

And what about all the energy used to promoted this event? It's a "clean" energy?

Seriously i think it's kinda stupid to do that, it's always the same, it is us, the people, who have to do all, like for the recycling, they "give" us ton of differents package(plastic,carton,aluminium,etc...), damn i need 5 trash in my place for doing this stuff that didn't even went to do and who cost me more money( we have to pay the trash bag, 1 euros each, plus the trash taxes 70 euros every years), why not just give us glass and aluminium or glass and carton or....
It's the same here, why should we turn off our electricity while the big company are usinf far more than the people?
And as said before, when you will turn on your electricity, you will finaly use more energy than if you had did nothing, if i tdo it the electricty, my boiler will use so much fuel and electricity to be at right temperature and i'm at the minimum!

The polution don't come from us, it come from all government who are doing nothing to stop it!

Great idea...but there are far bigger causes out there that could have benefited from this rather than energy consumption...like end the war, gas prices, or something...If human consciousness can somehow benefit humanity like this- perhaps it would be possible to manifest and or speed up the process of getting things back into order.

Energy consumption is a problem...but there are far bigger issues out there.

ignorant ape has the right idea; this will really not do much good for society or the planet, nor will it do much bad. of course, like ignorant ape said, all the lights will come back on afterwards, or most of them, and electricity is more expensive at night. so good luck with that.

for the record, it is nice to see people trying to get something done, but it is 3rd grade mentality.

at this point, we need energy to surive, and energy only comes in so many forms, and ultimately from fossil fuels. if you want to do something about it, try getting your house off the grid as much as possible. invest in solar panels and research windmills. with the right parts from a junkyard, a windmill can be easily made.

PS I personally don't give a dang about this "global warming" POLITICAL debate, I just want my house off the grid anyways.

PPS I just had a sweet idea: why dont you super great earth friendly environmentalists Lobby the Gov and Corporations to stop producing electricity at a certain time every night?!?! Then we can all go to bed at the same time with no distractions, while saving the planet and ourselves. THEN get the government to take all property and economic rights away, because people pollute and waste too much. THEN lobby for a new law that regulates the amount of consumption per person. THENNNN put a tax on all fossil fuels at 200 to 300%, and use that money to clean out that huge pile of trash in the ocean! And last but not least, have the government make huge new buildings where people all live together working and making products and cleaning things, such as water, in a huge building, partially underground, where the humans living there produce the heat to keep it warm, and run on huge hampster wheels to provide light and power.

Effectively eliminating all manmade global warming and pollution and hopefully someday, everything that makes us human!

baby steps, thats what this seems like to me. And any sort of step i nthe right direction (towards saving ANYTHING, whether its on a grand scale or a small scale) is still a step in the right direction. This earth hour is already getting mainstream press coverage so it may end up doing some good. Its at 9pm eastern time correct? I just want to make sure that I know when to turn off the lights.

Tela

One last thing i forgot to say: forget about saving this planet. what is the point in crying over spilt milk. by that, i dont mean it is screwed, but why waste resources trying to limit our production and consumption, when we should be improving on it and looking toward new horizons. We're just about to outgrow this planet, and there are a lot of other places out there where we should be putting our attention.

Planet X bra

Jmilla, you have great ideas, but things happen in small steps and the things you want to happen will only happen if an awful lot of people were involved in making the changes to reach the goals you want to reach.

This earth hour is a start imho. Like I said in my other post, baby steps. Baby steps lead to standing, which lead to walkin, and eventully to running, which is where we SHOULD be when it comes to alternative living and fuel.

Cheers,
Tela

Just would like to make 2 points:

1. Doesn't this constitute recruiting on ATS?

2. I would much rather participate in an effort for an off-planet colonization expedition than tilting at windmills in an attempt to save this one.

[edit on 3/28/2008 by kerontehe]

What is turning the lights out going to accomplish? Nothing. I am turning all my lights on to protest this stupid event.

reply to post by xnibirux


Not sure how anyone can say anything bad about this initiative--manmade global warming or not. We need to stop using oil and dirty energy for a whole bunch of reasons, and this will help let certain politicians know that people want to see that happen sooner than later. We need to wake up and protect this planet from ourselves.

Lights out at 8PM on a Saturday Night? Hmmm ... I can't see all the bars and streetlights in downtown Philly going along with this. Saturday night at the movies ... that won't go out either.

oh - and there's a Phillys game, a Sixers game and a Phantoms game all at that time too.

My prediction ... sorry ... but it'll be a bust.




[edit on 3/28/2008 by FlyersFan]

great to see earth hour being promoted on here...... i shall be doing my bit saturday night....... my 7 year old son is also looking forward to it!..... i think its a wonderful idea, and hope next year it will be even bigger!

WWF supporter and worker

I just saw this...thought...hey I can do one hour...whats the big deal?

If it helps...sweet...if not...nothing gained nothing lost.

All in all, one hour of electric is one hour of electric. However, I do see how people would argue that you would make up for that consumption somewhere.

Like I said ethier way, nothing gained nothing lost.

This is really a futile excerise in "feel good" politics... Man made global warming is a "crock" being sold to an uneducated and "dumbed down" public... Yes, we need to disconnect ourselves from our global dependance on fossil fuels for energy... But this will only happen when the nations of the world make a commitment to invest trillions of dollars into reasearch and development of alternative energy sources... The world is being held hostage by the oil producers and that is what needs to be fixed... Turning off some lights to rasie awareness is just plain silly... I just put 100 gallons of home heating oil in my oil tank today for $380... I'm well aware of the problem!!!

everytime I see some idiot with a "Save the Earth" placard I want to punch him in the face for being an ignorant moron.

In my opinion this is the most ignorant thing I've ever read on ATS.
Apparently anyone who wants to do something you don't agree with is an "idiot" and a "moron".
I would much rather stand with humans who want to accomplish something good than with humans who are aggressive.

The OP is trying to make people aware of something that may or may not have an impact on global warming and he/she gets lambasted by some folks here.
On the flip side we have others who will use this hour to spend quality time with their family or otherwise make good use of an hour that will benefit their state of well being.
Kudos to those who use the time in a positive way.

Great Idea. I'll do what I can and try to help. Some people dont get what we can do by conserving energy.

Originally posted by jasonm56
Great Idea. I'll do what I can and try to help. Some people dont get what we can do by conserving energy.

By doing it you will actually be USING MORE energy. Most appliances use more energy starting up than they do if they are left on for the hour. So by turning off everything and then turning it back on in most cases you will be using more and wasting more energy.

Again, it’s possibly one of the most stupid ideas ever. The amount of stupid ideas and stupid people in this world is growing and THAT is more scary than anything else!

Mikey

Well Earth Hour came and went in Sydney and I’m please to say I kept all my lights ON, and by the looks of it so did every other person in my apartment complex.

At least I can sleep now knowing that my complex is not full of idiots who will believe anything the media tells them.

Mikey

reply to post by Howie47


reply to post by citizen truth


reply to post by Mikey84


and all the other people who can't seem to look past the global warming issue...

Way to get lost guys. Let me break this down for you....This is NOT about global warming PERIOD I know it is hard for some people to let that issue go, but this is about the well being of the planet and how humans consume its produce and in turn the well being of humans. IT is that simple.

Sure there is still debate on how much truth, if there is any at all, there is in humans as a cause of global warming. Guess what? There is no debate that humans are having wide spread and in many cases irreversible negative impacts on the FACE of this planet everyday.

There is no debate on the topic of resources. Did you know the planet's entire human population could not live at the standards of the average American today? Did you know it is provable that the Earth does not produce enough resources for that? Earth Hour is about these issues, and while it is about global warming too, because the majority of people alive today disagree with the opinion of you all, but please don't get hung up.

Are you hung up? Are you experiencing an inability to MOVE ON? Do you open the "Fragile Earth" forum and begin to sweat? Do little tremors of frustration and anger run through your body as you scan for what insane article members have posted today? If so you may be hung up.

Edit to add: in fairness I can see how the constant bombardment of GW related material gets old when you don't believe, but picture this...Global warming is a rallying point for a larger topic. I wakes people up and brings them together in a united front dedicated to protecting our planet. Like it or not this is a necessary step in the evolution of the human species.

Bottom line is this. We live in a FINITE FIXED SYSTEM and we do not act like it. The actions of humans today is threatening the well being of humans and most other species for generations to come. We have passed the threshold of bounce back. What does that mean? Bounce back refers to the "healing" the planet will undergo when we lessen our impacts. It refers to the FACT that we have already done so much damage we have PERMANENTLY striped the Earth's ability to produce to a point below the original point. This means we have LOWERED the Earth's Carrying Capacity for humans and every other species.

Turning off you power for one hour is merely a statement, meant to move YOU the participant more so than anyone else. This is about making a STAND. It is about having the personal fortitude to do the right thing and to actualize it.

"Self actualize and realize do what you got to do, if you can see it you can be it, if your mind can go there than why can't you? If you can see it you can be it, manifest its up to you".


[edit on 29-3-2008 by Animal]

[edit on 29-3-2008 by Animal]

we observed Earth Hour and feel really good about it