(Update: see the trend graph I found on Earth Hour popularity below.)
Otherwise, we celebrate living in North Korea:
The Earth Hour stunt wants people to turn off their lights from 8:30-9:30PM local time. I plan on having our lights on.
Bjørn Lomborg writes on his Facebook page:
===========================================================
1.3 billion people in the world live without electricity. Celebrating darkness at Earth Hour sends the wrong message.
Unfortunately, Earth Hour tonight is nothing but an ineffective feel-good event. It does little for the climate in terms of reducing CO2 emissions and distracts us from the real problems and solutions — especially giving light to those in the darkness.
Read my new column in USA Today: http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2014/03/27/bjorn-lomborg-earth-hour-electricity-column/6975265/
And watch a 2-minute video by the Copenhagen Consensus Center: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SVVADAX_cU
Lomborg: Earth Hour just a feel-good campaign
Instead, give light to the 1.3 billion people who still live without electricity.
===========================================================
UPDATE: It seems sanity is starting to take hold and the global interest in Earth hour is falling off significantly. Here is the Alexa Internet traffic plot for this year plus 2013 and 2012. I’ve added the trend arrow aligned with the peaks of the Earth Hour events over those three years.
Source: http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/earthhour.org
Every day is “light up celebration day”. Why can’t you just allow one “feel good” day and turn the lights off, for chrissakes.
“Spider-Man will be the first superhero ambassador for Earth Hour, the global movement organised by WWF. This year Earth Hour launches Earth Hour Blue, a digital crowdfunding and crowdsourcing platform for the planet. The cast of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, and director Marc Webb, want you to be a superhero for the planet. Use Your Power at http://www.earthhour.org”
As you can see in the video, you got it all wrong. Earth Hour obviously celebrates CO2-spewing archaic methods of lighting like candles and torches, to supply the biosphere with vital CO2.
Hugh Winkler yer a party pooper. Go a head, light a candle and enjoy yerself.
Hugh Winkler says:
Why can’t you just allow one “feel good” day and turn the lights off, for chrissakes.
Well, for one thing, it irritates folks like you.
I think that’s a pretty good reason. ☺
leaving an extra light on tonight.
Anybody know what it cost to rent a couple of spotlights?
I might just install a windows ac a few weeks early just to fire it up then.
North Korea has 12 earth hours every night all year around.
Living at the west side of the Eastern Time Zone in the US, we don’t need no electrical-ified lighting from 8:30-9:30PM with Daylight Savings Time starting so dad-blamed early in the year. We burn our lights in the morning.
Why was poverty hour moved to the half hour for measurement? 8;30 to 9:30? My guess is it allows them to play with the usage data over a two hour period..
Just to be sure I do my laundry from 8 to 10..
Hugh Winkler says:
March 29, 2014 at 11:00 am
Every day is “light up celebration day”. Why can’t you just allow one “feel good” day and turn the lights off, for chrissakes.
**************************************
because its hard to walk around in the dark maybe?
because I just don’t want to maybe?
“North Korea has 12 earth hours every night all year around.”
I was going to say that. I’m always surprised these people don’t just move to North Korea, where they can live their lovely light and CO2-free lifestyle all year round.
Can’t be told to many times …
Light represent …
… Life!
… Knowledge!
… Hope!
(… and other positive stuff …)
… so it is illogical to turn it off …
… unless one have joined the dark forces …
The Swedish section of WWF admit on their web site that this is a political action (what else, other then possibly religion? Not realism and common sense anyway …)
Ross McKitrick said it best:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/03/17/earth-hour-a-dissent/
If we all do that will the Climatoctopus be put off for one more day?
Maybe if it wasn’t for this type of Earth Day stuff the models would have been right after all?
African nations with people burning poo in their huts to cook and stay warm at night, and we are calling turning OFF lights progress?
I sat in the dark for 4 days last Christmas.. Feel good wasn’t even on my list of feelings..
I plan to shine a flashlight in the general direction of North Korea.
Couldn’t hurt.
SasjaL says:
March 29, 2014 at 11:08 am
“The Swedish section of WWF admit on their web site that this is a political action (what else, other then possibly religion? Not realism and common sense anyway …)”
You nearly got it, Sasja; it is a Political Religion. Like Jonestown, which was not only a church but first of all a socialist commune.
A rolling blackout.
Since when is that a good thing?
Jay says:
March 29, 2014 at 11:10 am
“I sat in the dark for 4 days last Christmas.. Fell good wasn’t even on my list of feelings..”
Count yourself excused from Earth Hour for the next 96 years then. The others, please make sure to switch off the freezer as well, and just dump the spoiled food in the bin the next morning.
Hugh Winkler says:
March 29, 2014 at 11:00 am
Every day is “light up celebration day”. Why can’t you just allow one “feel good” day and turn the lights off, for chrissakes.
Because, unlike the many that believe in CAGW, we believe that doing good is better than feeling good.
I will NOT be turning my lights off, due to more EU meddling we have to have awful mini flourescent energy saving lights that take ages to warm up. I had to risk life and limb climbing up a ladder over the stairwell to change bulbs for LED’s because the energy savers over stairs were potential killers.
Hugh Winkler; I doubt very much that I would be feeling good if a member of my family or I, fell down the stairs!
poor old Korea, it practices all year round for this day and it gets so much stick in the press for human abuses when the alarmists themselves call for the arrest of Climate-Change Deniers
http://gawker.com/arrest-climate-change-deniers-1553719888?utm_campaign=socialflow_gawker_twitter&utm_source=gawker_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow
and make videos of deniers being blown up.
Gunga Din on March 29, 2014 at 11:06 am
Good idea! I have 2x500W spot’s newly bought in my flat, that can be unpacked and be used for this occation …
As “consumed” (ie transfered) electricity are measured, everything should be turned on! (stoves, tv’s, stereo’s chargers, kitchenware …(/i>)
Let us find out if WWF will lie about the result this year too …
North Korea
I wouldn’t ‘feel good’ by turning off all my lights. I would ‘feel weird”.
I usually switch off the light in the kitchen in the evening, but today I will try to keep it switched on. I’m thinking of going out in the garage and turn on the light there as well.
I would ‘feel stupid’. I would ‘feel duped’. I would ‘feel embarrassed’. I would ‘feel silly’.
DirkH on March 29, 2014 at 11:12 am
Yes, they even try to promote other economical crap on the very same web page including the fake “support” for the polar bear. Money that only ends up in their own pockets … They even include the BS about meat production.
http://www.wwf.se/vrt-arbete/klimat/earth-hour/1415461-earth-hour-2014
Earth hours – great! How about fly over country hour? We’re the scum that feeds those politically correct loons. We’re the folks that provides the electricity, natural gas, oil, raw materials, furniture, and all the other raw materials for everything each and every one of those loons use every moment of the day and night. Every vehicle, military hardware that keep societies safe is because of us providing the raw materials. Without us out in fly over land cities, and their politically correct bigots, would perish overnight because the earth itself don’t give a crap whether you live or die.
“…dixitque Deus fiat lux et facta est lux… ” “..let there be light…”
I’ll leave mine on; I may even turn on the Xmas lights I was too lazy to take down last Christmas.
This could wreak havoc with all those grids relying on wind power with fossil fuel for back-up? Demand swings will be enormous!!
Doesn’t California already have surge issues with the large amount of solar and wind systems that flicker the grids?
I found this survey on the Canadian Weather Network to be encouraging: http://www.theweathernetwork.com/poll/result/do-you-plan-on-participating-in-earth-hour/24178/
“Do you plan on participating in Earth Hour?
Yes – 37%
No – 48%
I don’t know what Earth Hour is – 15%”
To celebrate the joys of electric power, tonight at 8:30 I shall be running the self-cleaning cycle on our electric oven. And the electric clothes dryer. And a few other electrically-powered activities. With light…lots of light.
First there was Darkness, then light came and made the darkness hide, until WWF reintroduced darkness again?
I’m even gonna turn the OUTSIDE LIGHTS on in celebration! I LOVE LIGHT! And anyone who disagrees with me is a hater, bigot and racist.
Well, I’ll celebrate earthower by turning on every single light in the house, all night long, say for about 12 hours, just to be sure I include earthower for at least half the world’s people.
So that will be 12 hours times 0.2 KW, = 2.4 KWh, which in California, will set me back about a dollar. But I will get at least a dollar’s worth of good touchy feely sense of worthwhile contribution to the improvement (resulting) in the standard of living of coal miners, who have to scrape and save, because of California’s green meanies, who think, that coal miners should quit, and raise marijuana instead.
@hugh winkler
If you choose to turn your lights off any time – for whatever cause – I promise not to object.
And I look to you to afford me the same courtesy about my decisions.
Deal?
If we get a little bit stronger x-ray event than the one that just took place it may be lights out for everyone.
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/alerts/warnings_timeline.html
One question about earth hour, what is the mean global temperature anomaly due to the “back radiation” from artificial (electric) light short wave EM radiant energy, being beamed out into space to try and cool planet earth.
Shouldn’t we be converting as much coal fired thermal (heat) energy into high quality SWEMRE, to beam out into space, as we can.??
After all, it is that nasty solar SWEMRE coming in, that is causing earth to heat up.
I have 130+ light bulbs in my home. 7 w night lights up to 500W floodlights for maintenance.They will all be on, pointing outside. Also, I will operate my snow blower, generator, electric stove, F250 Truck. In additon I will just dump some gas and used motor oil into a large tray and set it on fire. maybe I’ll toss a tire into the fire for good measure. I contemplated renting one of these:
http://www.bigskyballoons.com/images/fleet_lg.jpg
went out and bought twenty Johnson co2 generators
http://www.johnsongas.com/industrial/CO2Gen.asp
and going to leave those running all night,
I perform #EarthHour every night when I go to bed. To celebrate it this time I will turn all my lights on and leave them on all night. Got to keep the grid’s load as constant as possible, we don’t want it have to handle unpredictable loads. #GreeniesAreStupid
Hugh Winkler says: March 29, 2014 at 11:00 am
“Every day is ‘light up celebration day’. Why can’t you just allow one ‘feel good’ day and turn the lights off, for chrissakes.”
Hate to pile on but:
Because it is a meaningless gesture in support of a destructive crusade. CAGW advocates and renewable energy are killing people and its supporters need to find something constructive to do with your lives.
Earth Hour is part of the Left’s 7-Step Plan to destroy the US and the West…
[click in image to embiggen]
Hugh Winkler says: March 29, 2014 at 11:00 am-“Every day is “light up celebration day”. Why can’t you just allow one “feel good” day and turn the lights off, for chrissakes.”
Because we aren’t masochists, Hughie. My ancestors and I didn’t spend generations improving our lot so I could chuck it all and squat around a frickin’ candle hoping the winter-starved wolves won’t eat me, freezing in the dark. But feel free to sacrifice yourself while everyone else laughs at your suicidal tuchis.
(Side note: Given the temperatures in my part of the world, freezing in the dark is a real possibility for pisswit participants. Evolution in action!)
This comment is how I will honor a fools fest. Nothing else.
Yes, but its for the children!
richard says:
March 29, 2014 at 11:54 am
went out and bought twenty Johnson co2 generators
http://www.johnsongas.com/industrial/CO2Gen.asp
and going to leave those running all night,
_____________________________________________________________
This got to be the funniest thing I have ever seen.
They are like little anti-AGW demons. touche richard. touche!!
I always think of my Cowboy(and Indian) Pop who lived in a world that wasn’t much different than the 1880’s Phone, yes, Steam yes, no electricity until the 1930’s (he would have been 100 this year.) But mostly horse power. He had: TB,( fought it and won) ,Rheumatic fever,(messed his heart up, he died from that at 72) Ran ovr by a horse and wagon,(Broken legs no Doc,just his
Native American Mother and her remedies from Appalachia) he peeled spuds while healing, healed in time for Fall Round-up.
No way I’d go back there. I like the 21st Century..
The idea of a rolling blackout??…….well the result of that is usually an increased birth rate or will all the Earthy ‘s abstain to prevent their heads exploding? As all I get from them is too many humans, so Jimbo we can help by turning the spotlights on for Non non hour..
I switch lights on only when I need them, but today. Well…
You never have a good set of anti-aircraft search lights when you really need them. No, I won’t be participating in “Earth Hour”. However, if the eco-feelgoods want to go all the way and pull the plug on all of their power-using devices and lights I sure wouldn’t stand in their way.
Hey, walking everywhere, going to bed when the sun goes down, communicating either by direct word-of-mouth or by the old-fashioned method of hand-carried letters– it’s worked for thousands of years, and it would limit the WWF’s efforts to get word out because next time, they wouldn’t be able to use electronic media. You know, those computers and TV cameras and radio transmitters have just got to be producing CO2, and of course we can’t let that happen now can we?
I will leave extra lights on outside in case anyone gets lost in the “dark”.
Hugh Winkler says:
March 29, 2014 at 11:00 am. Hugh, you can show solidarity with the 1.3 billion people that you and your colleagues have denied any form of cheap electrical power by your essentially selfish, egotistical anti -human actions. Spend 2 hours thinking about the millions of untimely deaths you have helped to bring about. I’m turning on the backyard floods.
“Hate to pile on”
No you don’t, PMHinSC . 😀
I’ll have ALL my lights on, inside and out.
Won’t run the generator this year – it’s raining outside and I have to pull the generator out of its small shed to run it.
Also, at the price of gas, I won’t be running my car, either.
But, according to the Warmies, it’s the thought that counts, isn’t it ? So I’ll think good thoughts about a running generator and car for that hour. 😀
wonder what the impact on the grid would be if millions suddenly turned lights on at the same time..
What tgmccoy said.
I remember my grandparents, who were born in the mid-1880’s and married in 1905. No way in HELL would I want to live the way they had to, even after WW II, when everything improved immensely (from their point of view, not mine).
I’ll take this century, thankyouverymuch.
Gerald Machnee on March 29, 2014 at 12:25 pm
The people of consern are already lost and in this case no light will help. They’re too blind to see …
Also, their parasitic activities depends on honest working peoples money and can’t act without it, so why “bite the hand that feeds you” …?
Anyway, all lights are on now and most of all other electric stuff are running too. (<The kitchen is running warm though due to the stove and soon the rest of the flat will be warm. Time to open some windows …)
Oh, that’s today? This morning I replaced the exterior lightbulbs by the front door with a pair of 11 watt LED bulbs my wife got for only $3 each at a Home fair last weekend. Look like nice Philips bulbs, but I can’t find quite the match at the Philips web site. They may be newer (880 lumens instead of 800) or maybe they’re just mislabeled.
I’ll have them on!
I plan to put a space heater in my fridge and wait to see who wins.
In all seriousness, here’s my take on “Earth Hour”:
http://diehardempiricist.blogspot.ca/2012/03/22-march-2011-earth-hour.html
Yeah, it’s symbolic all right. I also plan to contract cholera from my drinking water, let my kids get polio or smallpox or rickets, and allow my wife to die from childbed fever to similarly symbolize my contempt for a few of mankind’s other awful planet-killing triumphs.
Earth Hour is ritualistic behavior rife with symbolism and meaning for the True Believers. It’s real purpose is to “send a message”, (to whomever), and pump up the convenient idiots who still hang desperately onto their cherished cult-like Warmist religion. Part of their original plan, I believe, was to try to shame people into participating, since non-participation could be construed as meaning a lack of concern for the Earth. Sadly for them, their plan seems to have backfired. In the not-too-distant future they will be relegated to the status of Flat-Earthers, to be pitied more than anything else.
For those who want to watch, California’s ISO (Independent System Operator) has an almost-real time display of power demand. See link below. In previous years, there has been absolutely no noticeable dip in the power demand from 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm (20:30 hrs to 21:30 hrs on the graph). There very likely will not be any noticeable dip tonight, either.
http://www.caiso.com/Pages/TodaysOutlook.aspx#SupplyandDemand
For what it’s worth, the City of Los Angeles will turn out the lights at LAX (the international airport) but only for the “iconic” light pylons located between the runways and straddling Sepulveda Blvd. From the LAX website:
“The 100-foot-tall LAX Gateway pylons that illuminate the entrance to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), will light solid green one hour before Earth Hour on Saturday, March 31. Then, during Earth Hour, from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m., the pylons will be turned off as part of a coordinated worldwide effort to raise public awareness of climate change and the need for energy conservation.”
I will have on every light at my place. And sending a big Thank You to all the engineers out there who bring the power to us, every day. Electrical engineers are special, they actually take the square root of minus-one without breaking a sweat. They do this daily, routinely.
I would like to remind all of you that March 29th is Carbon Belch Day!
Take the pledge, beer helps:
Yes! I will increase my CO2 output on March 29th! I am joining people from all walks of life in taking the Carbon Belch Day Pledge! On March 29th I will do my best to increase my CO2 output and unleash a Carbon Belch on the planet. I do this with no fear or concern that I am destroying the planet, but rather to show the absurdity of the “going green” wackos who want to make something out of nothing.
http://www.carbonbelch.com/
george e. smith says:
March 29, 2014 at 11:47 am
“Shouldn’t we be converting as much coal fired thermal (heat) energy into high quality SWEMRE, to beam out into space, as we can.??
After all, it is that nasty solar SWEMRE coming in, that is causing earth to heat up.”
Try to patent it; “method and apparatus for the balancing of the radiative exchange at the top of atmosphere” or something; could become a great subsidy milker. Make sure it works only marginally, this way you can cry for more subsidies to improve it for years. When receiving subsidies, don’t forget the 10% kickbacks to the politicians.
If the radiative imbalance is the claimed 5 W/m^2 AND insolation at TOA is 1200 W/m^2; AND surface area of the Earth as seen from the sun is equivalent to the area of a circle with 12,000 km radius, or about 113 million square kilometers, then placing a mirror at TOA with an area of
113 million square km / 240 = 470,000 square km or a square of about 680 km edge length would suffice. Some big piece of aluminum foil with Helium balloons at the edge or so.
Start with smaller ones and work your way up.
MarkG says: March 29, 2014 at 11:08 am
“North Korea has 12 earth hours every night all year around.”
I was going to say that. I’m always surprised these people don’t just move to North Korea, …
Sorry, North Korea has standards.
yirgach says:
March 29, 2014 at 1:21 pm
I second that ..buurrrppp!
Meh.
I’m going to wait for “Earth Decade” coming to the UK soon courtesy of the EU’s insane energy policies.
Ric Werme says:
March 29, 2014 at 12:51 pm. I didn’t realise you needed a match to light up LED illumination!
The Texas grid demand can be followed here:
http://ercot.com/content/cdr/html/loadForecastVsActualCurrentDay.html
Donald A. Neill says:
March 29, 2014 at 1:01 pm
Yup. It’s hard to improve on that, or Ross McKitrick’s essay.
How about spending “Earth Hour” researching one of the relatively unknown heroes of electrification and sharing your results? The biggies like Edison, Tesla and Westinghouse are well known, but what about Inman and Thayer? (from Florescent Lamp Invention).
From ancient times darkness has been a metaphor for ignorance, suffering and death. It is not at all coincidental that God’s first act of creation was the command “Let there be light”.
Turning light off just to make more of the world dark is pointless and silly.
yirgach says:
March 29, 2014 at 1:21 pm
Unfortunately, alcohol is off limits, I’ll have to make do with a Dhal and cabbage curry, washed down with a bottle of carbonated water.
Actually I had my Earth Hour earlier this month when the cutout on a pole serving the neighborhood blew. We were without power for about two hours, which I guess means I’ve also already observed next year’s Earth Hour. I do not recall that I had any virtuous feelings about saving the planet during that time. I do remember hoping all my network and server gear would come back up as I only have UPS capacity for about 40 minutes.
If the Nobel committee get to see that photogaph they’ll be handing out a Nobel Peace Prize to the North Korean dictator.
I think I’ll replace my porch light with an incandescent. (I still have a few.)
I’m keeping the lights off as much as possible here in the UK, because of the ever increasing price of electricity as we subsidise the building of wind turbines and solar PV arrays on roofs. We used to be threatened with blackouts by the trade unions back in the 1970’s. Now it’s the privatised energy companies that are threatening us with the lights going out as part of their bargaining process with the UK government over a suggestion that they might be ripping off their customers here. I have never been in a union and nor have I ever been involved in using industrial muscle to rip folks off. Two classes of creeps to add to the government class of creeps.
I plan on watching NCAA b-ball tonight. I’ll throw on all the lights in the house and backyard, before I head over to the local sports bar to watch the games on big screen TVs for brews with friends.
After this cold N Am winter, global warming is just so underappreciated.
grumpyoldmanuk says:
March 29, 2014 at 1:51 pm
Yes, I did not mean to exclude those of the Brassica oleracea persuasion.
Just keep your windows open and the telly/radio on high volume so as not to frighten the young ones.
The Earth Hour is a real life equivalent of The Hunger Games. A ritual for the citizens of the Capitol to enjoy once a year; with no consequences for them but deadly effects for the people from the Districts. An exciting, feel-good social event during which the fortunate can imagine having a bond with the wretched fighting for bare survival. I hope Hugh Winkler and his friends conform to the Capitol’s haute couture dress code during the reenactment.
When I was a kid, we could not afford electricity. We were so poor we had to sit huddled around a candle for warmth.
When it got really cold, mother used to light it
I commented on this article:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2592304/Lights-everyones-Thousands-cities-towns-world-join-big-switch-annual-green-campaign-Earth-Hour.html#comments.
I wrote the following:
“I have all the lights in the house on, I have two cars outside in the drive, both idling with lights on, I have the washing machine running, my daughter is baking a cake in the electric oven and, even though this evening is mild, we have the central heating turned on but we’ve had to open the windows so as not to get too warm. All of this is costing me just a few pounds but I’m doing it to show my utter contempt for the ‘green’ idiots who thought up this ridiculous stunt. CO2 is PLANT FOOD, not a ‘pollutant’.
EternalOptimist says:
March 29, 2014 at 2:25 pm
You Had a CANDLE? We had to make do with a half-sucked mint candy Mum found in the pockets of the washing she took in. And it had to last until Easter.
A MINT ??
you were lucky….
grumpyoldmanuk says:
March 29, 2014 at 2:35 pm
You had candy and Easter?!
Only because the vicar let Mum use the font to give us our yearly bath, and eat the daffodils after the service.
I’ll see if I can fire up my old multi- TFLOPS antique giant monster of a power- sucking computer and run a few benchmarks… won’t have to turn up the heat in the house tonight and I hope not to make my neighborhood look like North Korea by knocking out the local grid.
Here’s the Real Time Total Load graph from the Midcontinent Independent Systems Operator (covers all or part of 15 US states and Manitoba, Canada):
https://www.misoenergy.org/MarketsOperations/RealTimeMarketData/Pages/RealTimeTotalLoad.aspx
They should call it “Stupid Hour”. More honest.
I have always believed we should have Earth Month.
Cut off everybody’s electricity for a month…
and find out how much they appreciate it, when it’s turned back on.
See, the claim to legitimacy of wattsupwiththat is that it’s the place you go to find real inquiry and lucid analysis countering the groupthink. So it’s disappointing when it tales on the character, from time to time, of a grumpy all-purpose anti-green trolling operation.
Thanks for the heads up – I would never have remembered to turn on every light in my 4500+ sq ft poorly insulated but cozy warm single-person home. I only wish the original gas lamps still were operational – then I could add some additional CO2 and soot to the endeavour to prevent global cooling!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYG_SOHZ_fA&w=560&h=315%5D
Like Michael Mann his friends the North Koreans are also totally and enthusiastically committed to the CAUSE!
I’m devastated that you think so poorly of us, but as I don’t have enough time left to detour on guilt trips, I won’t let it bother me.
South Korea, an Island of Light in a Sea of Darkness. They could use that and the pic for tourism campaigns.
Its possible I might turn some lights off. But it’s not in celebration of Earth Hour – it’s to stave off for an hour the apparently inevitable energy poverty that is now threatening my retirement (as in, there will be no retirement), and if energy costs continue to escalate as they have this winter and coming, I’ll be forced to adopt plan C – commit a criminal offense in my old age and let the state provide shelter, 3-sq and a TV.
Earth Hour dutifully ignored as the hypocritical waste of time that it is.
I have around 100 bulbs, inside and out, including 7 outdoor 500 watt floods.
That’s not enough so I may poll my car out of the garage and run the engine during the hour as well.
If you all join me in running your vehicle for an hour I’ll feel like I too am a super hero.
We can offset several wind farms by needlessly pumping more CO2 into the atmosphere.
Plus we can all deny we ever did it. 🙂
Hugh Winkler
WWF claims “your power, amplified”. Not if I can help it. I’m voting for the opposition.
I am currently supervising a drill site in Alberta. We plan on ‘celebrating’ Earth Hour by having an array of Caterpillar turbo-diesels 2 x 3508’s, 3 x 3512’s and 2 x 3516’s running at mostly full throttle from 2030 to 2130 local time (and pretty much 24/7)…..just doing our part to ‘fight climate change’. 🙂 I mean the planet’s cooling off right?….so shouldn’t we be pumping more and more C02 into the atmo to ‘control’ the climate??…if we don’t it’ll just change on us won’t it??? :)…..damn, gonna have to order another couple semis full of diesel. 🙂
Hugh Winkler says:
See, the claim to legitimacy of wattsupwiththat is that it’s the place you go to find real inquiry and lucid analysis countering the groupthink. So it’s disappointing when it tales on the character, from time to time, of a grumpy all-purpose anti-green trolling operation.
I must admit, I should be classified as ‘anti-green’. That is a rational position to take, since the “green” lobby has been thoroughly co-opted by the Left. The only true environmentalists these days are groups like Ducks Unlimited, and similar non-government organizations that provide money to maintain wetlands. [DU has been in operation since the ’30’s.]
But this nonsense about ‘Earth Hour’ — and nonsense it is — is simply a touchy-feely sop to keep the eco-lemmings in line.
Yo, Hugh: you wouldn’t be one of those eco-lemmings, would you? ☺
An observation that signifies nothing. I looked out on my street in the UK. At 20:30, the street lights were on. Two houses were in darkness, the rest were lit up as normal. The two dark houses are the two with solar panels installed. interesting.
An hour later, one of the two has lit up.
Meanwhile, the stars shone on. and beautiful did they look
Hugh Winkler says:
March 29, 2014 at 3:53 pm
“See, the claim to legitimacy of wattsupwiththat is that it’s the place you go to find real inquiry and lucid analysis countering the groupthink. So it’s disappointing when it tales on the character, from time to time, of a grumpy all-purpose anti-green trolling operation.”
“Green” is the name of the Maoist parties in the West; also called watermelons. Maoist only because Stalin fell out of favor before they were founded.
Worked in sub-Saharan Africa for four years. Had electricity in Bobo-Dioulasso and Lastoursville. Otherwise, I lived in villages, huts, tents, daub and wattle hooches, all w/o power except gas lamps and Petromax stoves. Saw and experienced stuff in the bush most people will never see or do in a lifetime, but it was always a joy to get back to base where there was power.
Turn off your lights for Mother earth? Tell that to an African.
Environmental extremism is among the most murderously racist movements anywhere.
That is an alarming trend of loss of interest and knowledge about Earth Hour.
If that trend continues, our grandchildren won’t even know what Earth Hour looks like or is about.
Alarm set for 8:30. Got the laundry lined up. Will turn on the dishwasher and crank all the lights. My 1x per year hour of fun. My wife just shakes her head. 🙂
Hugh Winkler says:
March 29, 2014 at 3:53 pm
Sorry, my bad. I totally missed that your comment was lucid and a real inquiry.
EternalOptimist says:
March 29, 2014 at 2:25 pm
When I was a kid, we could not afford electricity. We were so poor we had to sit huddled around a candle for warmth.
When it got really cold, mother used to light it
grumpyoldmanuk says:
March 29, 2014 at 2:35 pm
EternalOptimist says:
March 29, 2014 at 2:25 pm
You Had a CANDLE? We had to make do with a half-sucked mint candy Mum found in the pockets of the washing she took in. And it had to last until Easter.
Candle? You had a match? Washing? You had a tub? I could go off on this, but the truth would probably be thought of as another joke.
It sends the message the environmental movement and globalwarmists want to send: that the peasant class (everyone who isn’t a wealthy liberal or liberal politician) is so unimportant that we should be treated as the peasant class is in North Korea. That is, no electricity, lights, travel, luxuries; that we should be allowed only what is necessary to produce what the ruling elite desires, and nothing more.
Is that too cynical? Nope. Not cynical enough.
I’ll shut of all my lights for two hours when Nobel pPeace prize winner Al Gore shuts off his for the same length of time. …but his lead by example has to be independently verified by an impartial observer.
No, really.
Ed MacAulay says:
March 29, 2014 at 5:49 pm
You should hope they are so fortunate. Much better than the alternate of them having to live Earth Hour every hour, all day long, every day.
Hugh Winkler – why can’t you just mind your own business and stop being a nag?
I FEEL so ripped off already that I never recycle anything anymore, save for metal and that we give to a local old guy who drops by in his old beater of a truck to collect it from us and that’s done solely to help him out financially. The rest is garbage and or we burn it. Don’t even have a “blue/green” box since the snow plough killed it off 5 winters ago.
Hugh Winkler. I’m not anti Green. I’m anti B.S. I’m anti leveraging ignorance to promote snake oil salesmen and wacked out ideals. I’m anti faux environmentalists who pull heart strings to promote political ideals which keep more people in the poor house. They ask us to violate the laws of supply and demand and become less efficient. Those people are the true anti greens.
By 8:30 this evening the temperature will be rapidly approaching freezing. Otherwise, I would go outside and imitate my pre-industrial ancestors, build a wood fire, and roast a slab or venison or split salmon. So I’ll save the wood for a warmer evening and plan an open-fire traditional raclette.
Inside the house tonight, lights and heat are on.
EternalOptimist says:
March 29, 2014 at 5:11 pm
An observation that signifies nothing. I looked out on my street in the UK. At 20:30, the street lights were on. Two houses were in darkness, the rest were lit up as normal. The two dark houses are the two with solar panels installed. interesting.
An hour later, one of the two has lit up.
Meanwhile, the stars shone on. and beautiful did they look
________________________
I hope that smarter people than me are working on new ways to light our cities and keep us safe while giving us back our views of the stars.
Lights on! Bring awareness to the millions who die from energy poverty every year.
grumpyoldmanuk says:
March 29, 2014 at 3:22 pm
Our mom did not have such connections but I know when to throw in the towel. Besides, I have to prepare all the electrical lights and appliances.
Have I missed something. No I didn’t turn off any light. But this effort to turn off lights is to prove what we can burn candles? Turning off lights to save the planet, is like throwing a sugar cube into Loch Ness to turn the water sweeter. What about the fridges, air conditioners, TVs car lights, it is stupid. Did Las Vegas turn off their lights?
did our part here in the Eastern US. Most of you should have been able to see the glow from wherever you are http://206.174.132.58/eh14/index2.html
TomL – beautiful! Looks warm and cozy too.
Oh of course, we in Australia are a day ahead of you. I looked out and saw that the street lights were still on. Not that we have many anyway.
It’s one thing for adults being foolish with Earth Hour. It’s all together another when children as young as 6 or 7 are being bombarded with Earth Hour propaganda at school then going home to their parents all giddy and exited about taking part.
@Patrick
…i agree…that’s the real tragedy in all this…the pollution of young minds with this nonsense.
Andy and Patrick I doubt if 6 & 7 year old kids would really understand, but they would if the lights were turned off before bedtime. Assuming most would be in bed by then.
WOW! Let’s all FLY to Singapore to celebrate Earth Hour. The stupidity… it burns.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2592288/Emma-Stone-boyfriend-Andrew-Garfield-stop-giggling-launch-Earth-Hour.html
“bushbunny says:
March 29, 2014 at 7:33 pm”
If only that were true. My friend in the UK explained that the whole school had an assembly about it on the Friday. All the usual propaganda was at hand for the students. While her child may not have fully understood the concept (At his age I fully understood the fact that there were millions of starving people in Africa. This was in the 70’s well before LiveAid), the propaganda was effective enough apparently and he stayed up the whole hour for it. I pitty the future of the world when blatant brainwashing of children is part of the education system.
Hugh Winkler says:March 29, 2014 at 3:53 pm
“See, the claim to legitimacy of wattsupwiththat is that it’s the place you go to find real inquiry and lucid analysis countering the groupthink. So it’s disappointing when it tales on the character, from time to time, of a grumpy all-purpose anti-green trolling operation.”
This isn’t about wattsupwiththat. It about green energy and CAGW advocates killing people to make themselves feel good. Are you trying to make yourself feel good?
For a few years now, on the day of Earth Hour, I burn the year’s accumulation of old documents … don’t bother with the shredder. There is a lot of snow this year but the squirrels were out to entertain the dogs. As the coals of the fire glowed outside, I missed turning on the lights as I was part way through watching Gravity for the first time, but I did turn on the gas fireplace as I was somewhat chilled. The occasion got me outside I guess on a nice day before the last day of the deep freeze, for the season … tomorrow. Maybe next year I’ll turn on all my LED bulbs but now its time to set up to catch rain water, fight pocket gophers with landscaping, and over-seed with multiple fescue (eco-grass) and dutch white clover … and cut down a couple trees …
The only thing wrong with our modern conveniences is ingratitude. It’s easy to take it all for granted.
I must admit: I love candlelight. It is beautiful and Christmas-y. Dangerous, if you’re not careful, though. Even today people burn their houses down by being inexcusably stupid with their candles.
But with LED lighting, even by “green” standards, we don’t need Earth Hour or anything like it.
Oh, and I submit that the premature adoption of CFLs is worse for the environment than keeping incandescent lights and waiting for LEDs.
I am fully and commitedly anti-Green. I don’t need to be signed up for any leftist feel-good, religious movement, thank you.
I certainly am in support of recycling, reducing and reusing. If something can be reused, why not? I always donate my old items in good condition. This is actually doing “something” that helps others, but I chose to do it because I want to. No one should be forced into following some mantra in order to somehow gain self-importance and appease the overlords.
That’s the difference: the intent. Helping others through individual initiative and tending to your own problems so others aren’t burdened by you is called humanity and individualism. Ordering others to offer up figurative sacrifices while turning a blind eye to the real issues, all to keep their power validated? Hmmmm…seems almost anti-humanist and despotic.
Who am I kidding? It IS! 😀 Eff the left, indeed!
Every light in and out of the house and garage is blazing brightly, here in the Socialist Workers Paradise of Seattle! I’m hacking into the NSA satellites right now, so I can get a commemorative picture of myself waving from the front deck…..
It’s a little bit early to determine much, but it appears that California’s total demand INCREASED at the start of “Earth Hour”. We are almost 20 minutes into the “hour” at this time.
http://www.caiso.com/Pages/TodaysOutlook.aspx#SupplyandDemand
Mac the Knife:
See if you can get one of me. I’m shining my flashlight across Lake Washington for ya! 🙂
I’m keeping it lit up in Bellevue, too!
Oh, wow, man. Like — laugh — out — loud — grrrreeeeenn energy (a.k.a. windmills) could have made this Grateful Dead concert happen. What have you been SMOKIN’, man? Oooh, yeah. I’m sure they ALL rode their bicycles to the concert, too. Mm, hm. You Envirocult guys are soooo funny!
Ah say, uuh, hey, hey, hey-eeee-ey-eeee-eeeey!
When the wind stops blowin,” mmm, hmmm,
I say-hey-hey-hey-heeeeeey, when the wind stops blowin’…..
what — happens — to — yo — amp?
Oh, wo-wo-woooOOOoooOOOoooooh,
WHAT HAPPENS TO YO AMP, dude?
#(:))
“Ripple” — Grateful Dead
Bumper sticker for Holy Cars: HYPOCRITES ARE 2 PEOPLE
(yeah, I made it up — heh)
GO, BIG COAL (AND NUCLEAR)! Thanks to you
Tom Bodette and the rest of us can say:
“We’ll leave the light on for ya.”
Go, HGW whatever whatever and MAC! #(:))
Lights on up here in this neck of the woods of Environaziland, too!
Go, HYDROPOWER!
HGW xx/7 says:
March 29, 2014 at 8:57 pm
Gotcha, HGW xx/7 !
Dang! Their on to me HGW xx/7…… but ‘no worries’, Mate. I accessed the NSA satellites by routing through algores url (5th shakra.nyet). Gotta go ‘net dark’ for a bit, ’till the heat is off.
Mac
PS: Your flashlight could use some new D cells.
I think that most people are getting more aware of addressing environmental issues. One lady I know said what more do you expect us to do? We do try to save on electricity, we recycle, use low voltage globes. Use grey water, install rain water tanks to supplement tap water. Now you want me to spend thousands on solar panels and non of this will change the weather. Now you have banned burning wood in winter and recommend using electricity and oil for heating. I try to buy free range products as I don’t like the thought of caged hens, penned pigs or feedlot cattle.
I compost and mulsch and still use my car with unleaded petrol. I can’t cycle to do my shopping, as I am 81 years old. How Greener do you want me to get! Oh, I don’t use insecticides or herbicides. Maybe I should die soon to lower this worlds population?
PS And she smoked tooo?
An-tho-ny, I posted my comment before I saw that a certain frightened, to-be-pitied-not-rebuked, man is hanging out here. I wasn’t trying to get him started… . Oh, boy. Here we go. “Wind power is really, really, efficient and neato, neato, neato. Nuclear power is super-dooper-horrible.” I’m NOT GOING THERE on this thread.
Go, HGW whatever whatever and MAC! #(:))
Lights on up here in this neck of the woods of Environah-z1land, too!
Go, HYDROPOWER!
Hey electricity is there to use if you are willing to pay for it, use as much as you can afford. Usually companies that supply a service encourage you to use more of their product, but BC Hydro for some reason wants us to use less of their product.(((( Shakin ma head))). I expect that it is because they can export the excess at a profit.
Next up comes Earth Day, on April 22. Earth Day used to address some actual environmental issues, but has become a melange of feel-good greenie-weenie nonsense mostly. Notice the t-shirt they have, with the cute polar bear half-way up a wind turbine, which itself is floating on an iceberg. Not sure where they were going with that.
I agree with Hydro power, look at Egypt when they put in the Aswan dam and their lake Nasser hydro system. But in Australia we don’t really have the water power to do this. I suppose one has to consider the demography of a nation too. Their population dispersal. Most of ours in Oz are around the coastal regions, as we go inland and the outback the population is far less.
Anyway turning off lights has no affect on the weather.
“bushbunny says:
March 29, 2014 at 9:49 pm”
I can see troubles with hydro power from Aswan in the future. Ethiopia is building the biggest hydro dam project in Africa. It’s two or three times larger than Aswan, with a reservoir 2 or 3 times the volume of Lake Tana. All downstream cuntries who source water from the Nile, which is fed by the Blue Nile, are a bit worried that there won’t be enough water for power and irrigation. Having seens the impact of another hydro project in Ethiopa near Tis Issat, where 70-80% of water is diveted to a hydro plant, I can well believe their concerns.
“Anyway turning off lights has no affect on the weather.” Bush Bunny at 9:49pm.
Precisely and powerfully put, Ms. Bunny!
Weather. That is ALL that the “Fight Climate Change!” propaganda is about. Hyping weather. And, since most of those pumping out the propaganda know it isn’t true, “green” energy promoters are mainly just garden variety crooks.
Enviroprofiteering in the name of “Saving the Planet.” Disgusting.
Dear Bush Bunny,
I’m sorry that no one is responding to your many worthy comments above. I know what a bummer that can be, believe me. Hang in there. People are just busy, or sleeping, or… just duds at communicating!
Take care, “down there,”
Janice
P.S. I do realize that hydropower is uniquely available in NW Washington State and simply not a viable option in most of the rest of the world. Glad to know that you like it, per se, though! (smile) I hope that sick doggie is completely well, now. It was on the mend about a month ago… .
Oh, Paaaaatrick…. (wry smile)… I — am — still — praying…. about you know what.
DO let me know if anything develops… . Okay?
J.
Janice Moore says:
March 29, 2014 at 9:21 pm
Go, HGW whatever whatever and MAC! #(:))
Hey there, Sweet Pea!
Whew… that was a close one!
Is it pouring rain, up where you are? We are nearly certain to record the wettest March evah, for the Seattle area in recorded history. That’s just a bit comical, given mid-january, the enviro-AGW-wecaresoooomuch folks around here were starting to whine about how unusually dry it was! Looks like ‘the drought is broken’…. and then some! It’s been raining steady here most of the evening (as it has been for the last 2 months), just letting up in the last half hour. I have an inch of more of standing water on the lawn and the soils are completely saturated. I dread to think of the compound catastrophes that will occur, should we get a ‘shaker’ of an earthquake….. Best not to dwell on that!
In keeping with the ‘flooding’ theme, I think a little Stevie Ray Vaughn is in order on this sodden Saturday night: Texas Flood Patch this into the main amplifier, turn the sub woofers on, and set the volume control to +11 on the Richter scale! Enjoy!
http://youtu.be/tWLw7nozO_U
Hi yarall, thanks for compliments. I would worry about the Aswan dam but it is the largest man made lake I believe in Africa, i.e. Lake Nasser. I didn’t think Ethiopia had enough money to erect a bigger hydro system. You see the Brits refused to help Egypt and the Russians took over the cost. The thing about Aswan is that if it were to breach it would flood most of Egypt being a thin thread of land either side of the Nile and desert each side. I’ve been there before the Aswan was built and before the wars there but after the problem with the Suiz canal embargo by Gen.Nasser. Who is financing theirs I wonder. I’ll check.
Dang…. looks like we have to trip for a drill bit…aka massive CAT diesel engines running at full throtle all night long in the interest of drilling oil wells in western Canada…happy Earth-Day all you eco-menatlists!!!!…all the best from the beautiful foothills of Alberta in western Canada. !!! 🙂
The World bank is financing it with the African Development bank. But its not just the Nile the Congolese are into more dams too. There is international debate whether this will benefit such as small rural country. Anyway, we’ll see, eh?
@bushbunny
…well i wanna agree with you :)…but them young minds are like sponges…..My neighbors lil boy & girl seem to be budding ecomematalists in training :)…they gave me hell the other day for idling my superduty Ford…i triied to explain to them the battery needed charging but i have a real worry about what these good lil childrens have to hear in the classroom from the leftwing nutjob teachers & such. All the best from the beautiful foothills of Alberta Canada.
“bushbunny says:
March 29, 2014 at 10:46 pm”
I don’t know who’s funding the project. I know the last time I was in Addis Ababa most of the hotels were full of geologists, engineers, construction workers, miners and the likes swarming all of the country searching for resources. Talked to several about what they were doing.
I am now told I would not recognise Addis Ababa with all the construction going on. Thing is, the economy isn’t really sturdy enough IMO to support the 7-8million in the city, let alone the 70-75million in the country. With rampant inflation, most people barely make enough to eat on a daily basis. Teff, the basic grain, has increased several 100% since 2007. So, someone is making lots of money, sadly, it’s not those who really need it.
ABC (Australian) Radio presenter, Ian McNamara annually celebrates the Earth Hour farce with this little country ditty from Trace Adkins. Macca must be the only moderate working at the ABC these days!
Enjoy….
Andy, I agree, children do absorb their parent’s world view, unfortunately that is a fact of life. But – as one gets older often the social environment changes and we change. Being English and coming to Australia I knew nothing about Aborigines. The average Aussie tended to resent what they got and pointed out they were a load of drunks, etc. I had never even seen one until we saw one rolling drunk along the road in Taree. “There’s your Abo?” my ex told me. However, when I went to UNE, and did Australian pre-history my attitude changed completely. Learning about Australia’s treatment of Aborigines in the 19th and 20th Century I could understand some more that was left out of my so called education. Also my youngest son went to school with some Aborigines and I met their parents. We used to have a laugh together about racism. And I was considered a non racist person because I knew what they had gone through. There are some really bad asses in both cultures I am afraid, and hard to generalize that people who have prejudices tend to do. Well you had the same in the US of A, with the deep south particularly and KKK.
Well when I saw the Congolese where getting on the gravy train, it is a corrupt government and very backward. The trouble is that most of the money goes into the wrong people’s pockets. I had a late friend who was a prospecting British geologist and I can tell you living there was like being in a hell hole. Canary jumping avoidance was a national sport for some residents. The local police wore yellow and would try to stop motor vehicles on isolated jungle roads. To get bribes or rob the passengers. Those cops new to it, were in danger of being run over, because cars would not stop.
Earth Hour, here in Australia on MSM channels, is being hailed as a stunning success with 2 billion getting in on the act to save the barrier reef. It’s laughable, really really laughable. By far the greatest threat to the reef is the crown of thorns starfish!
Hey, there, Mac. Thanks for that great music. I smiled for 9 minutes straight — needed that. Nope. It quit raining around 4pm. Heh, heh, all those Hempfest slobs in Seattle must have had a little shindig and all the hot air they exhaled (THEY inhale, BOY do they!) created a little low-pressure zone in Seattle and all those clouds headed south. I guess.
“the drought is broken… ” LOL.
Bummer that your lawn is soaked (so what’s new), but… it will help you get the boat you’re building in your basement launched! Won’t even need to hook up the trailer!! (and get that stupid license renewed)
Here, this for all the sunshine you shine into my life via the “Leave a Reply” box on WUWT,
a mini-vacation for a rain-weary Washingtonian:
With aloha,
Janice
(thanks for calling me “Sweet Pea” — (blush) — I like that)
*************************************************************
@ Patrick — Yes, lol, I NOTICED that you are ignoring me.
#(:))
P.S. Mac, the FULL SCREEN is great.
On the bright side (pun intended), we managed to use 13 kWh during Earth Hour.
But, according to Ontario Power Generation, all of our power is currently coming from nuclear and hydro generation: http://www.opg.com/generating-power/Pages/generating-power.aspx
So if we’d shut off every electrical device, and lit a single candle, we would have increased our CO2 emissions. Which I guess shows the silliness of Earth Hour.
Didn’t our president state he was going to raise energy prices? (I forget exactly why he decided having us shivering in the dark was a good idea.)
How illuminating, Brad R.. #(;))
I noticed as I checked in to Frasier Place for my two week stint of work in KL, that they had an advert for earth day in the reception…
Sure enough, after I took a wander to get my bearings and entered a lift in the very *dark* lobby, two bemused, mature Americans – assuming my accent radar was accurate – remarked that it must be some kind of power cut or electricty problem at the hotel… I put them straight and let them know it was in fact the earth day ridiculousness – and I did use that term – in aid of saving the planet. Their response was very polite indeed to my provocative interjection: “It just shows how out of touch we are”. I departed while we were all grinning at the fatuous gesture that is earth day.
The only lights that should be going out are at the EPA and the DOE.
WRT hydro, as I recall a regular postee here at WUWT, The Pompus Git, posted that here in Australia, Hydro Tasmania is involved with a Chinese company in coal-to-liquid (CTL) programs. I cannot find anything to support that, but I didn’t try too hard. Hydro Tasmania is in the list of the top 250 “carbon” polluters and received a windfall profit last year of ~AU$50mil, as a direct result of the “proice ohn cahbohn” that the “Gillard” said would not happen.
“Janice Moore says:
March 30, 2014 at 12:26 am”
I am not ignoring you however, there is a time and a place for that.
It was candles all the way in our home last night….and natural ones too…made from Whale fat.
I found a more current and comprehensive site for Ontario’s power generation: Gridwatch. http://live.gridwatch.ca/home-page.html According to it, we’re getting 5.7% of our power from gas right now, for a net CO2 emission of 30g/kWh. So our 13 kWh extravaganza emitted 390g, roughly the equivalent of four tea candles.
And at the same time the countries that “celebrate” Earth Hour tell emerging third world countries that they can’t mass produce cheap electricity because “OMG! CO2!” White countries scream at non-white countries. This entire agenda comes across as pretty racist to me.
It’s the same perversion as the push into solar and selling it as “green” energy. The raw materials for European (especially German) environmentalists to feel good with their solar panels are brutally harvested in China.
Destructive exploitation of resources in China for “green” energy in Germany.
Thumbs up to my right-wing governed hometown. Not only were the street lights on, the local police office was exceptionally illuminated during the ‘Earth Hour’. I feel now so safe, secure and so proud of my hometown.
Perhaps it’s also because the spring has arrived here early, cherry trees blossom and the sun shines from a bright blue sky in perfect temperature. Don’t really know, but what counts is the smile on T-shirt wearing passers-by.
I’ve got a bonus reason to smile. On the eve of the ‘Earth Hour’ my country of origin took a major leap towards a brighter future. The left-green hard-core change resisters (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_Green_Left_Alliance) walked out of the coalition government into the opposition.
Things are now looking bright indeed.
Discussions of Earth Hour always remind me of the “What have the Romans done for us” conversation in Life of Brian.
“The Danish energy industry is no longer producing enough energy for its citizens, according to a recent report published by energy authorities Energistyrelsen.
The report revealed that the level of self-sufficiency dropped to 93 per cent last year – the first time it has fallen below 100 per cent in 18 years.
Last year, the production of natural gas and raw oil dropped by 17.7 per cent and 13 per cent respectively, although there was an increase of 2.2 per cent in the amount of sustainable energy produced compared to 2012. However, sustainable energy currently accounts for nearly a fifth of energy produced by Denmark and a fourth of total energy consumed.”
http://www.icenews.is/2014/03/28/denmark-not-self-sufficient-in-energy/
Denmark not so green as they want us to believe.
bernie1815 says: March 30, 2014 at 3:56 am: “Discussions of Earth Hour always remind me of the “What have the Romans done for us” conversation in Life of Brian.”
Applies to Earth Hour inventors’ logic and also beyond. You know, those who dreamed up EPA, UNEP, IPCC, FCCC etc aiming to get us back to stone age from the grips of the evil capitalists.
I admit to a good chuckle every year for earth hour.
I help a local beekeeper out,
we refine the wax for use as candles, and sell some for commercial use in makeup pharmas etc
etc.
it takes 2 days of fairly high heat, and a further day of slow simmering a huge vat to separate and prepare it. far more power than we would like…when it comes to the bill.
then its refined further in small batches for the candles.
so the very clean burning wonderfully fragrant pure beeswax candles they buy for earth hour..
actually take a fair bit of human and coal power to become the objects they so desire to display green ideology..
its a nice boost in sales for us..but ..we all laugh at why it is 🙂
Would love to have joined in, but our power was out because of cables downed by strong winds. Still, fired up the generator to keep the freezer running.
Earth hour… phhphhtt!
Wait ’til the zombies come for them and then we’ll see if the un-armed enviro-bedwetters still want to turn off their lights.
I see lots of people above reporting that they turned on their lights and none of them have reported any problem with zombies. OTOH, I figure the zombies got the people who turned off their lights, because none of them have posted in comments.
ozspeaksup says:
March 30, 2014 at 4:41 am
“I admit to a good chuckle every year for earth hour.
I help a local beekeeper out,”
Nice story. But, even if the candles needed no extra energy during production, the Earth hour people would still be committing a crime against humanity – Candle light, light light from incandescent light bulbs, is blackbody radiation, therefore about half of the photons emitted are not contributing to the light, but are dreaded, planet-killing infrared photons – exactly why they outlawed incandescent light bulbs; and during Earth Hour, this IR radiation is supposed to SAVE the plane?
Leftists, their brains.
bushbunny says:
March 29, 2014 at 11:15 pm
“Andy, I agree, children do absorb their parent’s world view, unfortunately that is a fact of life.”
You would prefer they’d absorb the worldview of UNESCO or UNEP? Then we would be living in hell.
¿Earth Hour? (yawning)
So many groupies and so boring . . .
John
Darn, I didn’t realise it was Earth Hour last night, otherwise I would have put all my lights on for half an hour as I have for the last few years.
Anyone who puts their lights off is celebrating darkness, cold, superstition, starvation, disease and poverty. The Dark Ages were so-named for a good reason.
Chris
I always saw Earth Hour as a “fool good” day.
Where’s the T-shirts?
Earth Hour???
Skeptics are into natural science more than that!
In my home, we had lights on, TV and computer going, laundry being done, and pizza cooking in the oven! Truly a celebration of our life on this earth! LOL!
Got married 29th March 69.
Wished I was not in the dark then.
Oh sheesh, I missed Earth Hour. Had I been aware of the time I would have attempted to turn on the lights and car too. The only problem is that I have my automatic Earth Hour yesterday evening. We were without electricity for 2 hours (NORMAL power outage). You see I experience Earth HourS all too regularly and I am fed up to the back teeth. I can’t match the carbon footprint of Bill McBidden if I went for it hell for leather. Oh what a topsy turvey world we live in.
I just wish some of these eco-worriers would come and live in a country that suffers from regular power outages. One year would suffice to bring them out of their insanity.
Here are a few reminders about what many in the world are facing. Children simply won’t know what electricity is. It will be a very rare and exciting event when they finally get it.
Earth HOURS Here is what some people think about saving electricity.
You really do have to experience intermittent electricity to understand how damned frustrating it can be. Spoilt people have never had it so good. Stop bleeting please.
@ Hugh Winkler.
Exhorting you to do something is not the same as forbidding you to do another.
Anthony hasn’t banned you from doing whatever you want.
Unlike the Greens here in my home State of Tasmania. They’ve just banned plastic shopping bags.
Why would they do that? They were on a ‘go without plastic bags’ kick for years. 20 years ago they said “Plastic bags will persist in the environment for 1,000 years”. “That’s silly”, thought I. “There haven’t been plastic bags for a 1,000 years.” 20 years later the plastic bags were already breaking down. They changed their claim to “They won’t break down for 20 to 1,000 years.”
Then, in minority Government, they banned the bags. So we’ve kicked them out of Government.
personally, I consider myself anti-Green, and here’s why:
I used to agree with much of the Green’s proclaimed goals. Despite noting that their actual practice contradicts their claims and is largely stupid. After all, “Don’t shit where you eat” is generally good advice. But if you actually want excrement with your food, you will of course seek out a Green and eat their environmentally friendly organically grown produce.
If we thought it worthwhile, we could reduce the amount of CO2 emitted by forcing the world to go vegetarian. OR we could achieve the same result by switching to natural gas obtained from fracking. Which do you think is the Green’s preferred option?
We could abolish another 40% of Carbon Dioxide emissions easily if the Green’s stop their opposition to Nuclear energy. this would also reduce air pollution.
Green’s claim of victory in abolishing lead in petrol is possibly a good thing. But note that another this was added because it made petrol more efficient. Petrol now emits ten percent more emissions than it did beforehand. Transport is thirty per cent of CO2 emissions, so that’s another three per cent of global emissions caused by Green activism.
But mostly I despise the Greens for their stupidity and lying. Earth hour resembles decarbonisation the way camping out in the backyard for an hour resembles being homeless.
I’ve walked through forests logged 20 years ago, and put up with Greens moaning about it being pristine untouched wilderness that should never be logged.
They recommend sustainable energy, but go apeshit when you point out solar is not sustainable, but whale oil is.
Greenpeace’s anti-Golden Rice stance blinds millions of children every year.
Environmentalists policy is to reduce the human population to what they call a sustainable level. Everybody knows this will not happen voluntarily. The need for a ‘final solution’ to the overpopulation crisis is inherent in their philosophy. No green would take part willingly? Rubbish. the Voluntary Human Extinction movement might perhaps have no members at all willing to move to the Involuntary Human Extinction side- but it is a fact that 40% of the FBI’s most wanted home-grown terrorists are not Muslim, not Black Panthers, not Communists or neo-nazis but environmental activists.
Mostly, I’ve abandoned calling myself Green, or light Green because of their lying. I have my own long list of Green claims that turned out to be lies. But try Lomborg for some facts you can easily fact-check.
Slept all through Saturday daytime after sleeping six of the previous 54 hours, woke up around 1900. Fell asleep with the lights on an hour later, woke up around 0720 with all the lights still on. If i’d known it was Earth Hour I wouldn’t have turned the TV off.
Power generation is for profit; marketed and distributed like television and popcorn. How absurd to turn it off. I laugh at PSE with their Green agenda junk stuffed in billing envelops. What they really want is to sell excess power to the highest bidder – which is not to the common household user.
twobob says:
March 30, 2014 at 8:20 am
Got married 29th March 69.
Wished I was not in the dark then.
What deep sadness and regret…we even had light bulbs then. Apparently yours had not been issued to you. 😉
Electricity! We don’t need no stinkin’ electricity. 🙂
Because of this article I have just turned on the light in my room – even though it’s nice and bright anyway.
Dang, I wish I had thought of running the self-clean cycle on my oven last night! Otherwise, dishwasher, dryer, washing machine, and all lights were running, curtains open to proclaim our opposition to Earth hour. This once a year celebration of having all our lights on reminds my of my 1960s childhood, when turning off lights (even in empty rooms) when people were at home just never happened until bed-time.
I was doing my best last night to mitigate Ontario’s disastrous green energy program, which has left us paying Northeastern US states and Quebec to take our power whenever supply outstrips demand, as the nuclear and other green power just keeps on being generated regardless of demand. Thanks to elevated energy prices, manufacturers have fled the province, leaving us with even more oversupply.
Amazing how the common sense of previous generations has been turned on its head by our current political and social leaders.
I bet, in the blackest recess of the black heart of some global warming catastrophist somewhere, North Korea is a model of a tiny carbon footprint perfect society. Mind you they generate substantial watts there to electrify the fences that surround the vast gulags entire families are incarcerated in forever for thinking the wrong things, or watching movies from elsewhere. So it’s not like thay can’t do it. They just have different priorities…
I was a little surprised that the NBC Evening News did not mention Earth Hour.
Does anybody know what the electric usage actually was during the “Earth Hour”‘s compared to the same non-Earth Hour?
Caption for my earth hour poster with a satellite photo of the earth at night:
Guess which Korea if free and which is a Stalinist dictatorship.
Guess which Korea eats and which one starves.
Electricity is good.
Choose freedom, and build more power plants.
That is, a satellite photo of the Korean Peninsula at night.
for earth hour i cranked up my lights, jumped in my hot tub and made a giant greenhouse gas producing bonfire! ;it was awesome. Communists suck and only stupid people fall for this garbage.
Eart hour? Ignored.
Ever seen some of these but ugly critters? It’s the only way they could have sex – utter darkness.
North Korea: Failure you can see from space!
Well guys, you are [trimmed] I leave it to you to figure out why.
Good point.
Thanks for sharing