I can't believe I almost forgot. Wait... of course I almost forgot; I'm an idiot.
I was totally going to pimp Earth Hour this week and now most of you are done reading blogs for the week and so it may be too late.
Oh, well. Here's the deal for those who don't know: Between 8 and 9 p.m. tomorrow night, Saturday the 29th, turn off all your lights and other electrical appliances and don't go driving anywhere. Don't consume any energy aside from what you metabolize in your own body for one hour. Just one hour! You can do it!
If I have to tell you the reasoning behind this global movement, you're already hopeless and I should come to your house and beat you about the head and neck with a leather-bound copy of Superfudge.
For those who need to know more, go to the site. Do it!
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21 comments:
I'm even on your side on the overall issue, but honestly, this is largely an empty gesture. It's not large enough to make any real difference in large-scale energy consumption and given that I'd not heard of it until now, it's not a big enough PR thing to raise much awareness to the stuff we should be doing every day to conserve energy.
I may do it anyway, but Kim's parents are here and they'd just think I was being rude somehow.
Are you going to turn your fridge off?
Because then if you get a prank call and they say, "Hey, is you're refridgerator running?" You can say, "No."
And then the poor sap won't know wha to say back! Hahaha!
Oh. Except... can you use your phone during earth hour? Oh. They can leave a message.
Oh wait... are you leaving your answering machine plugged in?
OK I'm taking this too far.
OH. What time zone are we conserving in?
Now I'm done.
But that is the hour I'll need to get ready to go out, and that requires a shower and a hair dryer. If I promise to do it a different hour, can I be redeemed?
jacob- As with most gestures, it's not the actual physical result that matters, but the raising of awareness for an issue. And since many large cities, including Syndney and several major US cities are doing it, I think the energy savings may be very real.
arbyn- I haven't decided what to do with the fridge yet, since turning it off for an hour may actually use more energy as it will have to work harder when I plug it back in. Same with the hot water heater. My phone never rings anyway. (by the way, nice job with the fridge joke)
dutchess- Nope. That's the hour. Do your primping before 8 and then sit down and have a drink or two and read a book by candlelight for an hour.
C'mon people, it's just ONE HOUR!
let's see...it seems like a great idea, but can it be a little later in the spring? i just can't see turning off the heat and the lights in march in minnesota. it'll take more energy to re-heat the house after it cools off....
and if we have no lights on, we can't read. we can't watch tv because there will be no power.
so we;ll huddle in blankets for an hour in the dark.... hmmmm.....
(am i being difficult here?)
Mickey, I'm with you. I'm all about Earth Hour, and I may be a little idealistic, but I do think the energy savings will be much more than symbolic.
And it's ONLY an hour. You are supposed to turn off anything that's non-essential. I'm guessing that unplugging the fridge and turning off the heat are probably things that wouldn't help too much because they'll have to play catch up when you turn them back on. But lights, tv, etc. Those should go off. It's a do what you can situation.
I think it would be neat to have a candlelight fondue dinner, or bundle up and fire up the grill or something. Not sure what we're going to do yet, but we're all for it.
That's the hour I was going to fire up my Hummer and throw used car batteries at homeless people. Shit.
laurie- Yes you are. See Allie's comment below (she lives someplace really cold as well). You could always read by candlelight or (gasp!) have a conversation with a person.
allie- Thanks for having my back. And thanks for helping me feel better about leaving the refrigerator running.
em- Ha! You get a gold star for this one. But only if you're really joking. You are, right?
you're right, of course. i *am* being difficult.
i actually think it's a nice idea. we have a fire going in the fireplace, and maybe we'll just shut everything off and sit by the fire and talk.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7270218.stm
Great Britain did something similar to this for an entire day and the effects weren't even noticed.
I'm not sure it was publicized well enough to raise much awareness. The only non-Mickey reference I saw to it was an ad on National Geographic Channel an hour and a half after lights could go back on (I'm guessing it was a last minute notice for the Westerners). Plus, I'm not sure how this would fare for those not in the choir. I think it might just be seen as a little kooky and ignored at best. Unless it's something that can really spur them to change their everyday habits, I'm just not sure the usefulness of it.
laurie- Yeah, we had a nice time playing Trivial Pursuit by candlelight.
jacob- But can it hurt? It's mainly just a chance to raise awareness for the issue of energy consumption. It was fairly well publicized in Atlanta (one of the cities that signed on) and as a result much of the skyline went dark for one hour. It's symbolic.
i missed it.
i suck.
I LOVED Superfudge. That is all.
I will provide with the leather-bound copy of Superfudge to dole out the beatings, if you promise not to hit me with it. I totally missed Earth Hour! In my defense though, I didn't even KNOW it was Earth Hour, and I would have done it if I had.
em- Of course you do.
surviving myself- Yes you do.
rachel- First book that came to mind (well, after the Bible), for whatever reasons (on both counts.)
npw- I feel I'm to blame for that. I should have passed the word on sooner. Not too many cold-weather cities signed on for it, so maybe that's why you didn't know about it. It started in Sydney, but I think we need our own Earth Hour for the Northern Hemisphere in a warmer time of year.
Well, we weren't home, so I think we actually participated without knowing it. Then again, we were at a party where there was a huge screen TV, the oven on, lights, etc., so I guess we really just made it worse...
But I just have to say, this sounds like a great excuse for a lot of couples to just turn out the lights and get it on. No need to conserve your own energy just cause you are conserving other kinds! Just everybody wear/take birth control so we don't make this planet even worse! (just kidding, kind of)
meaghan- That's what my mom said! Actually she pointed out that we'll probably see a baby boom in nine months. And that would be counterproductive.
Re: publicity, actually Google altered its home page that day so it was a black screen instead of white. And there was a link that said "We've turned out the lights for Earth Hour. Now it's your turn." Or something like that.
Probably would have raised more awareness if they had done that on Friday, when people were still surfing the Web at the office.
I'll argue that partying with friends is energy efficient, because it worked out to about seven different households watching TV and preparing dinner in a single house.
Still, I would not have done this at my house if my family were visiting. (I doubt Mickey would have either, I dare say.)
chris- You apparently don't know me at all. The Pope could have been over for dinner and drinks and I still would have doused the lights.
And you won't have to argue about the efficiency of a group gathering.
I wasn't saying it was a bad thing. In fact I said that I was considering taking part. I just questioned how well it was going to be at doing what it was intended to do (which was more publicity for the cause than tangible benefit).
I actually didn't participate because at 9 p.m. we were still on the road coming back from the beach. The lights were definitely off and we were carpooling, though.
I'd also like to point out that I at least took the post seriously.
Meaningless gesture. Lights really don't use that much power. Turning of the heater or air conditioner... that would make a difference.
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