The WWF sponsored Earth Hour has already come and gone in the Korean time zone, and the North Korean proletariat has claimed a stunning victory over its evil capitalist neighbor, South Korea.
Oh, wait.
Seems it is always that way.
I like this line from Alan Caruba at the link above:
Like fire, electricity is truly a gift of the gods. It is the difference between the Dark Age and the present age…
I know WUWT carried this photo before, but it is always good to regularly remind ourselves how much we have to be thankful for.
It also reminds me that if we could get our hands on North Korean surface temperature records, we’d be able to get a minimally UHI polluted signal. – Anthony
Be sure to check out this post:
Tracking Earth Hour in the Greenest State
Steve Schaper (13:40:29) :
What’s all the light off-shore? Ships on shoals of fish?
I think its fishing boats.
artwest,
I read somewhere that this WWF’ protected zone’ is in the north of Brazil and is not under any particular threat. Still, we can’t let the facts get in the way of a fund raising wheeze can we?
Me too last year! I lit my house up and was attacked with eggs during “Earth Hour.”
My inner-astronomer is deh conflict, off to steal a sirloin from THE MAN
(Cave Optical joke here)
kwik (13:37:02) :
> “THE GORE MINIMUM”
> I like it!
I like it too, except that it could be the only thing Gore is remembered for.
As noted by David Alan Evans, the Eddy Minimum is a far better name and for someone who deserves it. However, there is no official name, as far as I know.
See:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/06/13/online-petition-the-next-solar-minimum-should-be-called-the-eddy-minimum/
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/06/11/jack-eddy-discoverer-of-the-maunder-minimum-and-lia-1932-2009/
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/04/22/wuwt-poll-what-should-we-call-the-current-solar-minimum/
F. Ross (13:18:53) :
What’s that little spot of light about half way up the left hand side of North Korea? North Korean protesters or just a group of pixels stuck on on my monitor?
REPLY: The capital, Pyongyang. Imperious leader Kim Jong-Il must have electric lights, the rest of the country can burn candles. – A
Pyongyang is a show city, while the rest of the country starves Pyongyang has to look its best, saving face is important in korean culture.
Amino Acids in Meteorites (13:45:52) :
Agree with all that!
Sumi Jo: well she can certainly sing, but she isn’t the fat lady.:)
“David Alan Evans (13:51:15) :
kwik (13:37:02) :
The Gore minimum. NO!
The minimum has already been named, if it occurs, after someone who deserves to be remembered. Jack Eddy.”
I second that.
“Amino Acids in Meteorites (13:45:52) :
Thank God Sumi Jo was born in South Korea and not the North. There […]
”
Awesome, Amino, thanks for posting!
Thats the way they want us to be, the idiotic people who have swallowed AGW. Like North Korea, Zimbabwe, Somalia, Afghanistan etc.
They should be all packed off to live in these countries – their Earthly paradises
…..more coal-fired plants, nuclear plants, and other generators of electricity….
………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Dr. Robert Balling, Arizona State University, on the reality of using fossil fuels:
Saving the world because you eat organic or change a light bulb?
“….they don’t seem to understand 5th grade mathematics…..”
Looking next door to China, North Korea’s communist neighbour it looks like they are not doing too bad judging by all those lights. That’s what happens when you go for the low fat, diet, caffeine free version of communism and not the hard core version of North Korea. Despite all the bad press China gets from the warmers they are now the top inverters in renewable energy http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8587319.stm I wonder are people afraid of climate change or are they afraid of what it means if the poor of the world get a chance to compete with us.
On the other end of the scale you could say that the poorest African countries which also appear dark are that way because of a lack of a strong government and institutions which north Korea suffers from a surplus of. As always the answer is somewhere in the middle and i am glad i live there.
One headline in New Zealand reads:
“Earth Hour draws fewer Kiwis”.
“Fewer New Zealanders switched off their lights for Earth Hour last night than last year.
National power grid operator Transpower reported power consumption was down 2 percent for the World Wide Fund for Nature-sponsored climate change awareness event, compared to the 3.5 percent savings recorded last year. ”
For the rest see http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/3517903/Earth-Hour-draws-fewer-Kiwis
That’s a 40% decline in participation over last year !
Hehe… North Korea reminds me of Cuba. I flew over Cuba on the way to Argentina a few years ago and it was nearly as dark down there…. LOL
Socialism can be seen from up here on the Moon. For Earth hour we need to go to the far side to get any difference.
In Finland an OAP was run over by a motorcycle and died. The driver did not see the man because the street lights had been switched off because of Earth Hour.
I think they’ll let the lights on next year.
If anybody wants to plot them, these are the demand figures for the UK Grid from 20:00GMT to 2200GMT – Demand in MW. Half an hour either side so you can see there is no significant change in the rate of change as demand falls through the evening. No sign of any effect on demand around either 2030hr or 2130hr. In short, Earth Hour was a total non-event in the UK (as well…)
20.00 40065
20.05 40120
20.10 40085
20.15 39873
20.20 39657
20.25 39393
20.30 39125
20.35 38806
20.40 38626
20.45 38313
20.50 38006
20.55 37748
21.00 37554
21.05 37451
21.10 37071
21.15 36808
21.20 36703
21.25 36447
21.30 36182
21.35 35891
21.40 35675
21.45 35435
21.50 35330
21.55 35139
22.00 34925
REPLY: Here it is plotted, Anthony
http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/earth_hour_uk-2010.png
Socialism is equal distribution of poverty, capitalism is an uneven distribution of wealth.
FYI, Pyongyang was the only capital of communistic state, ever taken by Western armies during the Cold war.
Richard Heg (14:45:07) :
Looking next door to China, North Korea’s communist neighbour it looks like they are not doing too bad judging by all those lights. That’s what happens when you go for the low fat, diet, caffeine free version of communism and not the hard core version of North Korea. Despite all the bad press China gets from the warmers they are now the top inverters in renewable energy http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8587319.stm I wonder are people afraid of climate change or are they afraid of what it means if the poor of the world get a chance to compete with us.
On the other end of the scale you could say that the poorest African countries which also appear dark are that way because of a lack of a strong government and institutions which north Korea suffers from a surplus of. As always the answer is somewhere in the middle and i am glad i live there>>
China is also growing their coal power faster than anyone and next to it their “green” stuff is miniscule. They are also number one in executions by gross count or per capita, take your pick. As for Africa, make a list and see how many of them are NOT dictatorships, so don’t give me any malarky about lack of strong government, you can’t get any stronger than that.
I would LOVE the 3rd world to get on their feet and compete. A larger global economy is good for all. The notion that one country’s growth can only come at the expense of another is ridiculous.
“Luboš Motl (12:56:57) :
Congratulations to Kim Il-Sung who is, even decades after his death, a bigger warrior for the ideals of environmentalism than Pelosi, Gore, Kerry, Obama, Chu, and Holdren combined. !
You are right, but they are trying hard to catch up.
As a keen amateur astronomer I support the idea of an earth hour. I wish they’d take it further and turn off all the street lights. Can’t we have just one night a year when we get rid of all the light pollution so people can see the sheer awesomeness of the stars.
“It also reminds me that if we could get our hands on North Korean surface temperature records, we’d be able to get a minimally UHI polluted signal.”
?
Forgive me, but isn’t UHI affected by more than just electric lights? Although I too would be fascinated to see NK’s official temperature records; always sunny and prosperous…
😉
My little anti-AGW campaign: http://zi.fi/earthhour
Hahahah, hilarious 🙂
Pace Nobel Prize for Kim Jong-il!
It’s all about Waste Management.
In Kim’s case, He is the only one allowed to waste energy.
In China’s case, they put all energy into making things, then dump the waste all over the place (they didn’t invent planned spillage as that honor goes to the Soviets).
In the Green’s case, they want to lay waste to all Energy period.
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