Earth Hour hopes to shed light on climate
So are the St. Louis Gateway Arch, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Eiffel Tower, Egypt’s Great Pyramid of Giza and many other iconic structures.
The lights will be going out for Earth Hour, organized by the World Wildlife Fund to draw attention to global warming, from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. Saturday local time around the world. That’s when organizers of the event, which began in Sydney in 2007, want everyone to turn off non-essential lights.
About 2,800 cities in 83 countries — including 250 in the United States — had signed up, according to Dan Forman, a spokesman for World Wildlife Fund, an international conservation organization that boasts 1.2 million national members and close to 5 million globally.
Forman said organizers want to send a message to Congress and to global leaders working this year on climate change legislation and a treaty to limit greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming.
“It’s all about the symbolism,” he said. “We fully recognize that one hour does not put a dent in the climate crisis.”
The effort has its critics.
“We think Earth Hour, even if you are super-concerned about global warming, is a little lame, and we are making fun of it,” said Eli Lehrer, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), a Washington, D.C., think tank that supports limited government and decries global warming “alarmism.”
CEI has announced a “Human Achievement Hour” to counter Earth Hour. The group says millions of people will participate by turning the lights on, going to a concert or seeing a movie. “It’s obviously tongue-in-cheek,” Lehrer said.
Many companies, however, are serious in support of Earth Hour, Forman said. Coca-Cola, for example, has pledged to turn off its big signs around the world, including a marquee in New York’s Times Square.
Schools and universities across the country are also participating, including the University of Louisville.
“We are trying to change the cultural attitudes and behavior,” said professor Barbara Burns, chairwoman of the university’s Sustainability Council. “And one of the first steps is awareness.”
John A (04:42:50) :
All I can say about symbolism and Earth Hour is that it is those beacons of freedom, Zimbabwe and North Korea, that lead the way on reducing our carbon footprint.
_____________________________________________
Oh! John A. You’ve got it wrong. The amount of power Zimbabwe uses and the number of trees they fell to print all that money!! That leaves a dirty footprint if I ever saw one!
Geoff Alder
Actually, I’ll be on stage, complete with my 600 watt bass amp and 300 watt vox amp, crankin’ out some Folk / Country Jazz / Gypsy Blues, singing and playing the night away!!!
Smokey, that has to be the unreal-life sequel to a radio story I heard years and years ago, the rabbits had to tell everyone to jump all together at the same time to save the planet. It was cute then. Now it’s quixote but still funny.
From the London Telegraph at
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/g20-summit/5065721/G20-summit-thousands-start-protest-march-through-London.html
Some of the world’s most famous public buildings and landmarks will switch their lights off at 8.30pm on Saturday as part of a global gesture against climate change.
These include Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, the Eiffel Tower, Sydney Opera House and the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.
But some militant protesters have threatened to force the light out at business headquarters which do not voluntarily take part in Earth Hour, with plans for action against “wasted energy” in London office blocks over the weekend.
I would agree that in general these office blocks with light and the likes of computers on 24/7 is likely simply wasteful and an unnecessary demand on finite resources but the use of or threat of violent tactics in order to impose an ideology is edgy but probably supported in quite a few quarters these days.
Here in Portugal, there will be an important football (soccer) match, Portugal-Sweden, for the World Cup 2010. I bet this action won’t be so successful here. 😉
So ecoworshippers have discovered Lent. They’ve always been into self-sacrifice and flagellation, although not necessarily followers of what they preach.
coka cola is probably worried about what cap and trade is going to do to them, they use so much co2 afterall
It will be interesting to see if the crime rate (esp. burglaries) rises. Law of unintended consequences and all that…
I see Eli Lehrer is quoted in the article. Any relation to Tom, I wonder – he sounds suitably subversive.
Dan Forman said: “It’s all about the symbolism. . .”
Correction: it’s all about the press release.
Skeptics have a duty to not just be reactionary and to be better informed than the sloganeering AGW doomsayer propagandists. Skeptics need to realize that energy conservation is rational. Conservation NOT depravation. The atronomy focused Dark Skies movement admitedly does prattle lip service to the environmentalists, but I support the use of energy saving lamps that shine DOWNWARDS rather than pissing away light into the sky. It’s not anti-technology to deploy our beneficial technology sensibly and efficiently. Our kids and grandkids would be well served to see the night sky in all its glory occasionally rather than watching media TV propaganda.
It is one of those “feel good” exercises that might make an eight-year-old feel good as some sot of grade school exercise.
Me, I am turing on every light in the house and the front porch floodlight (even though they are all CFLs). This way, the teenagers who regularly park on my very dark street to make-out will be able to see what they are doing.
Takes me back to my first “Earth Day” celebration. It was held in downtown Winnipeg at a place called “the Forks” . My job was to do clean-up after the event. As a young man I was idealistic and thought that it would be an easy day with pay. I came upon what can only be described as the “aftermath”. There was garbage everywhere. People dropped their garbage where they stood. I was appalled and could not get over the hypocrisy of “Earth Day”. I still cannot get the shock of that sight out of my mind. I wish I had a camera with me. I find it quite funny that I worked very hard that day to clean up after those people who were there to promote a clean, green planet. I did not waver in my duty to do my job, and it gave me an energy and resolve to continue to clean up after those who claim to be “do-gooders”, yet don’t seem to be aware of the real harm they are doing. Cognitive dissonance anyone?
H.R. (00:01:39) :
Me? Not a thing different from my usual routine.
I do like the idea of “Celebrate Humankind’s Achievements” hour, though.
The Gore Effect entry at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gore_Effect has also been defaced. 🙁
The edit reasons given are in my opinion tenuous and certainly not in the spirit of simple observational humour. The cognitive dissonance would seem to include a low self confidence in the belief.
I plan on celebrating Thomas Edison/Henry Ford hour tonight at 8:30 PM. Every electric motor, internal combustion engine and every filament that I own will be consuming irreplaceable fossil fuels as a token of my appreciation to these wonderful men and the ingenious devices they have helped create for the betterment of the human condition.
Darn! We burned all our yard waste back in November!
The company that runs the business park in West London where I work e-mailed us all last week, announcing Earth Hour and encouraging everyone to take part, i.e., “vote for the planet.”
I sent an e-mail back to them, explaining why I don’t endorse Earth Hour, for the reason that if the WWF succeeds in its mission to persuade world leaders to sign up to Kyoto 2, it will mean that our illustrious government will blow yet more billions of our money on futile and unnecessary CO2 reducing measures. Which, in an economic downturn, will mean that all of us who work in and for the business park will face an even greater chance of losing our livelihoods in the months and years ahead.
I got a reply saying, in effect, we still think Earth Hour is a worthy cause, but thanks for your feedback.
Needless to say, my lights will be on, to celebrate the fact that we still have electric power in this country. Better enjoy it while it lasts…
Thinking of firing up the Barbecue grill also…..maybe consume some CO2 rich, flatulence producing, steer meat……….even though it’s about 20 degrees outside due to the unprecedented global warming……..what the hell, if I keep the grill close to the back door, leave the heat switched on and the door open, I can probable create a small “heat bubble” to keep myself comfortable while I baste.
I’ve also been considering getting rid of the old tires that have been laying around the yard…..maybe a bonfire.
Thanks for everyones comments about my earlier postings on the UN document.
This is an update on the original story and the wikepedia ref concerning Agenda 21. There are many links that needed to be folowed!
This is the claimed agenda of the UN
http://worldinbalance.net/agreements/1992-rio-agenda21.php
This is the schools agenda
http://sage-agenda21.site.voila.fr/
This is one of the uk schools implementing it
http://sage-agenda21.site.voila.fr/
This gives various UN declarations covering 10 principles voted on at various times by the UN
http://www.worldinbalance.net/agreements/2000-unglobalcompact.php
(This is not an official UN body but certainly operates with their blessing)
http://worldinbalance.net/agreements/gov-agreements.php
The above link gives an idea of the organisation and its funding. Along the top are various links leading to a better description of their work.
They follow the general principles of Agenda 21 which is an overall UN aspiration whose aims are described succinctly here
http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/documents/agenda21/index.htm
The UN document posted earlier from Fox news-which is to be discussed in April 2009 in Bonn- seems to be correct and is firmly based on the work of various sub committees (links already posted) voted for by the representatives of govts funding the UN . It is nothing more or less than an attempt to bring about a ‘one world’ through a variety of socialist measures including removal of industries and serious tax increases for the West and re-education of our children to ensure we all do ‘the right thing’.
The original link is repeated here for convenience. The IPCC seem to be the agent for this reordering through scaring the population into accepting its findings as fact, and stressing there is no option other than to radically change our ways.
http://www.foxnews.com/projects/pdf/032709_informationnote.pdf
http://www.worldforum.org/
This link above on govts using global warming to gain their objectives.
Conspiracy? Idealism? Doing things without our knowledge or sanction certainly
If you want to examine the veracity of the science of the IPCC you can do no better than to ask the opinions of Expert reviewers of the IPCC fourth assessment as I have done. This is part of a much longer reply to me from Richard Courtney
” Expert Peer Review Comments of the first draft of the IPCC’s Fourth Assessment Report provided by Richard S Courtney
General Comment on the draft Report.
My submitted review comments are of Chapters 1 and 2 and they are offered for use, but their best purpose is that they demonstrate the nature of the contents of the draft Report. I had intended to peer review the entire document but I have not bothered to complete that because the draft is of such poor quality that my major review comment is:
The draft report should be withdrawn and a report of at least acceptable scientific quality should be presented in its place.
My review comments include suggested corrections to
a blatant lie,
selective use of published data,
use of discredited data,
failure to state (important) limitations of stated information,
presentation of not-evidenced assertions as information,
ignoring of all pertinent data that disproves the assertions,
use of illogical arguments,
failure to mention the most important aerosol (it provides positive forcing greater than methane),
failure to understand the difference between reality and virtual reality,
arrogant assertion that climate modellers are “the scientific community”,
claims of “strong correlation” where none exists,
suggestion that correlation shows causality,
claim that peer review proves the scientific worth of information,
claim that replication is not essential to scientific worth of information,
misleading statements,
ignorance of the ‘greenhouse effect’ and its components,
and other errors.”
Climate change no longer has much to do with science but the promotion of a belief system.
Tonyb
Everything in our home will get powered up. All lights ON. All hot tub pumps ON, The oven ON, All televisions ON, Toaster, ON (and constantly reset), Furnace fan turned up to High, Radios, ON, My teenage son has written a program to have all the computers in the house (7) run a complex CPU intensive algorithm.
That should do it.
I plan to go to the power box and pull the main breakers for about 30 seconds. When I close the breakers, the power surge will create far more CO2 than if I had let everything run. The fridge and the many florescent lights in my house consume much more electricity at start up than they do running.
My dad used to say it took 4 hours of electricity to start a florescent light. It was his justification for never turning of the lights in his dry cleaning plant.
Here’s some video of the band.
Well, I was going to be running sound for a band at a firefighter’s benefit, but there’s a winter storm warning for the area (Milwaukee, WI). It’s very likely therefore that most people (including me) will be staying in and keeping the heating turned up. Ironic, isn’t it? :).
It’s a BS stunt anyway… just more MSM scaremongering.
I’m going to turn off my cigarette lighter for an hour.
@Aron Lands and people do eventually develop, but it takes time, a lot longer than people usually think it does. Tribal Iraq is no different to when Scotland was tribal, or anywhere else that is tribal. But just look at the history of places that used to be tribal, and notice how many hundreds of hears it took to make the transition to modern democracy. People first thought the Iraqis just needed to be freed. Now we think it takes a little longer, a little nation building, and as you quote, polls say people want democracy. Well, we’re still underestimating how long it takes, and we’re deluding ourselves believing that they’ll finish this anytime soon. Just because people want democracy, doesn’t mean it will resemble democracy when they get it. If you have three major tribes (never mind all the clans for now) each tribe wants its own tribe to win. Tribal means loyalty is to the tribe. Is is not loyalty to the nation state and “we the people” of the nation. It is loyalty to your own tribe. So democracy is just a way for the biggest tribe to gain the most power. That system will not work. And guess what, polls show most people want democracy? Like, the biggest tribe, the majority, want democracy so that the biggest tribe can get all the power? What happens to the minority groups? Democracy stands to make a worse mess, a slow lingering mess that will go on for 50 years at least. You can have democracy when everybody identifies with being a citizen of the state, not a member of a tribe with clan loyalties.
Pat, during the appalling famine in the 1980’s, the biggest export out of Ethiopia was runner beans to Europe. Band Aid may have helped, but it was the politics and corrupt governments which needed (and still need) sorting.