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Earth Hour 2008: Did it Matter?
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Earth Hour
http://scienceblogs.com/clock/2008/03/earth_hour.phpEarth Hour Category: Environment Tomorrow, March 29th, 2008 at 8pm local time, switch off all the lights for an hour! Join the millions participating in Earth Hour (of course there is a Facebook group, full of information). Apart from the obvious idea of
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Dont Forget! Today is the DayEarth Hour
http://www.altruistplanet.com/?p=65I posted about this in February, but I wanted to remind everyone that tonight is Earth Hour. At 8PM turn off all your lights and appliances that you dont need. Unplug your cell phones and computers. Play games with your kids by candle light, go for a
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Happy Earth Day
http://teriobrien.webloggin.com/2008/happy-earth-day/When I woke up on Sunday, March 30, I realized that the Husband and I had missed that idiotic “Earth Hour,” when people were supposed to engage in yet another in what seems to be an endless series of pointless symbolic gestures to show their concern for the planet that we are gradually destroying with our air conditioners, our plastic bottles and our old-fashioned light bulbs–talk about “excuse me for living’–by turning off our lights for an hour. It had been my intention to make up for all that darkness on March 29 by turning on all the lights inside and outside of my house, and leaving them on all night. After all, if it’s better to light one little candle than to sit and curse the darkness, how much better to turn on all my lights and sit and curse the socialists who have duped some well-intentioned, emotionally-driven types to participate in these silly self-congratulatory rituals. Sadly, I completely forgot, and so we had only our usual few dozen lights on. Today, I have another chance, it being Earth Day and all. I know it’s Earth Day because I saw that half-wit who does the weather on ABC’s Good Morning America, Sam Champion, babbling about it this morning before I had a chance to dive for the remote. Speaking of Spacey Sam, check out this story. Last Friday, when presented with the fact that alarmist scenes of collapsing glaciers in Al Gore’s “Aa Inconvenient Truth” crockumentary was completely fake and computer-generated, he said “Audiences expect Hollywood to twist fact into fiction. But Gore’s documentary does the opposite, using a fake shot to make a real point, that ice shelves are disappearing, and vanishing ice means global warming.” I am not making this up. Yes, I believe he is allowed to walk around off the leash. If this quote doesn’t prove once and for all that all this man-made global warming stuff is a secular religion to its devotees, I don’t know what does. By the way, I wonder if anyone has asked John McCain about this phony footage? Speaking of presidential politics, and tough questions, today, in PA, which is holding its big dem primary today, presumptive loser Barack Hussein Obama had another one of those cranky moments, which you may have noticed happens whenever anyone asks him anything more challenging than “Senator, is it difficult to always be the smartest person in the room?” or “Senator, what’s it like to know that everyone is depending on you to ensure the survival of humanity?” This time, he was asked about another one of his anti-American supporters, this one notable for the fact that he is a former president of the United States, the King of the Useful Idiots, Jimmy Carter. As most of you know, his latest demonstration of his claim to the title is his meeting with leader of the bloodthirsty terrorists group Hamas, Khaled Meshaal. As you would expect, since BHO is the 2nd coming of JC (no, not that one, despite what his followers believe, but rather Jimmy Carter), Carter is supporting Obama. In an annoying, coy sort of way, he’s made that clear. So today when asked about Carter’s latest dumbass move, Obama refused to answer, instead pleading “Why can’t I just eat my waffle?” Boo-hoo, Big Ears. Let me see …why can’t you just eat your waffle? MMM …how about because you’re running for president? I will be watching the returns tonight, of course, but part of me wishes the whole thing would turn out like it did last night on the WWE. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7YYzLr87Bw I forgot how much fun wrestling can be. As far as Earth Day goes, I have to stop now so I won’t miss my chance to celebrate this time. I’m going to go run some errands, and even though it’s only about 70℉, I plan to turn up my car A/C full blast. Don’t worry: I have a sweater.
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Earth Hour ‘08 and the Power of Symbols
http://vialogue.wordpress.com/2008/04/09/earth-hour-08-and-t...Thursday, March 29, 2008 was “Earth Hour,” a campaign that encourages individuals, organizations and businesses to turn off their lights for one full hour beginning at 8pm. This year, 24 global cities participated. Time Magazine published this article on Earth Hour and more information can be found at http://www.earthhour.org/. Okay, so we’ve heard it all, and [...]
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Time magazine: Please keep up with your namesake
http://mediaenvironment.wordpress.com/2008/04/01/time-magazi...Editor’s note: This an extended version of a letter to the editor that I plan to submit to Time magazine about an article posted to its site called “Earth Hour ‘08: Did It Matter?“. To make some sense of this post, I would recommend reading that article first. I would promise you that it wouldn’t be a waste of time, but that would be a lie, which is why I’m writing this. My column this week in Jayplay also discusses Earth Hour. In Sydney, Australia, where Earth Hour began. Photo by Jamie Williams, flickr.com Although not everyone claims to be a treehugger, I am hard-pressed to find people who say they hate the planet.Then by the transitive property of the basic human need for a home multiplied by the square root of Al Gore, I can’t see why the individual is left out of the equation in trying to solve global warming. In Bryan Walsh’s article about Earth Hour, he completely dismisses the importance of the individual making a difference. But Earth Hour highlighted just that. This event showed how easy it is to reduce your personal carbon emissions in one of the simplest ways possible: turning a light switch the other direction. In a country that can hardly do the basics when it comes to saving the environment (Americans still recycle only 32 percent of their trash), flicking the lights off for an hour should be a no-brainer. Walsh writes that we must “live like monks” in an attempt to erase our individual 20-ton carbon footprints and later says that that will “barely scratch the surface.” But he forgets the point of Earth Hour and has fallen into the carbon-dioxide-induced dumps. The main point of the event was not necessarily to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Instead, organizers wanted to make a statement about the importance of fighting climate change. The biggest producers of carbon in Americans’ daily lives come from transportation and the energy used to heat and cool our homes. How can these not be changed at an individual level? We can decide to turn the thermostat down a few notches in the winter and up a few in the summer. We can decide to walk or ride a bike to get groceries down the street. We can decide that we would rather have our electricity come from renewable resources instead choking down the pollution from America’s coal plants. Individuals comprise the collective, so the efforts that we make at a grassroots level resonate higher up the chain. Walsh may be right on one point, though: The statistics are monstrous, and it is hard for people to visualize what their 20 tons of carbon dioxide emissions is doing to the planet. But this oh-well-it’s-not-my-problem attitude has plagued efforts to electrify some sort of global environmental concern in the American people. Historically, international failures like the Kyoto Protocol give even more clout to the importance of individual action. Although then-vice president Al Gore symbolically signed the treaty, the Clinton administration never submitted it to the Senate for ratification. President George W. Bush said he has no intentions to submit the treaty for ratification, making the United States the only developed country in the world that hasn’t signed Kyoto. Walsh’s pessimism is not shocking, considering the message this country sent by failing to sign Kyoto and its refusal to take action. It’s no wonder Americans think we can’t make a difference when this cynical attitude dominates the landscape. By ignoring the significance of the individual, Walsh defeats any hope that Americans can make a difference. As a world leader, this country has an obligation to take on global challenges and be a role model to other nations. The United States has the highest carbon dioxide emissions per person, so it is up to us to change our ways. It’s easy to fall into the trap of green fatigue that Walsh mentions by constantly being reminded of the tough changes we must make to the typical American lifestyle. But what we forget is the new American lifestyle that we can create — a smarter lifestyle that holds us accountable for our actions and our only home. It’s time that we face the consequences of our choices, and it’s Time that is informing Americans about remaining the status quo. -Lauren Keith
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Les gens qui embrassent les arbres…
http://jtine.uniblogs.org/2008/04/01/les-gens-qui-embrassent...Les gens qui embrassent les arbres… 1 04 2008 Earth Hour ‘08: Did it Matter? Trop souvent, les écologistes sont traités comme ils sont fou ou qu’ils ne fait rien. Cet article dit que cette heure spéciale n’a rien fait bien pour l’environnement, mais ça n’est pas vrai! Les actions comme cela amplifient la sensibilisation de notre grande crise d’énergie. Aussi, chaque petite action aide un peu, l’idée c’est de convaincre tout le monde à faire quelquechose et puis nous pouvons commencer à radier le problème. Donc, je n’agrée pas avec l’opinion dans cet article, je pense que chaque action est importante, et l’influence de cette heure doit être éprové par tous les gens partout!
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50 Cent Learns About Racism, Loses Interest [News Roundup]
http://jezebel.com/374351/50-cent-learns-about-racism-loses-..."I heard Obama speak. He hit me with that he-just-got-done- watching-'Malcolm X,' and I swear to God, I'm like, 'Yo, Obama!' 'I'm Obama to the end now, baby!," says 50 Cent, who originally supported Hillary Clinton. He has since "lost interest." [MTV] One of the girls who tormented Megan Meier under the tutelage of evil mom Lori Drew is going to be on TV tomorow talking about how Lori turned out to be a crappy "mother figure." Um, yeah. [ABC] You know how after 9/11 the government consolidated all these government functions into the Department of Homeland Security, which was probably an expensive waste of time? Well they are sort of doing that with all the regulatory agencies that are supposed to keep track of how much money all of these sophisticated "security" things are worth so the economy doesn't find itself with a hole the size of the Russian economy in it. It will take a long time, and probably not work. [WSJ] Obama has his widest gap in the Gallup tracking poll of Democrats of any candidate since February. February! That is almost the month before last! [Wonkette]Oh, look who favors socialized medicine! The folks who provide it. Funny, that! Think they all got brainwashed by the happy British doctor in Sicko? [Reuters] Chelsea Clinton quotes Salt N Pepa. [Wonkette] Do Pennsyvlanians distrust women or black folks more? [AP] Paris Hilton is a "role model for young girls everywhere," according to Paris Hilton. [Redlasso] Finally, a pundit with the guts to take Hillary to task for this Bosnia thing. What would we do without you, Hitchens? [Slate] Did you hear about this whole "Earth Hour" thing? Yeah, don't worry, nobody did. [Time]
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50 Cent Learns About Racism, Loses Interest [News Roundup]
http://www.apoklyptk.com/chaos/50-cent-learns-about-racism-l...50 Cent Learns About Racism, Loses Interest [News Roundup] March 31, 2008 50 Cent, Chelsea Clinton, Christopher Hitchens, earth hour, megan Meier, Henry Paulson, Health Care, news roundup, Hillary Clinton, Paris Hilton, Barack Obama, Politics, campaign 2008, general mayhem No Comments "I heard Obama speak. He hit me with that he-just-got-done- watching-'Malcolm X,' and I swear to God, I'm like, 'Yo, Obama!' 'I'm Obama to the end now, baby!," says 50 Cent, who originally supported Hillary Clinton. He has since "lost interest." [MTV] One of the girls who tormented Megan Meier under the tutelage of evil mom Lori Drew is going to be on TV tomorow talking about how Lori turned out to be a crappy "mother figure." Um, yeah. [ABC] You know how after 9/11 the government consolidated all these government functions into the Department of Homeland Security, which was probably an expensive waste of time? Well they are sort of doing that with all the regulatory agencies that are supposed to keep track of how much money all of these sophisticated "security" things are worth so the economy doesn't find itself with a hole the size of the Russian economy in it. It will take a long time, and probably not work. [WSJ] Obama has his widest gap in the Gallup tracking poll of Democrats of any candidate since February. February! That is almost the month before last! [Wonkette]Oh, look who favors socialized medicine! The folks who provide it. Funny, that! Think they all got brainwashed by the happy British doctor in Sicko? [Reuters] Chelsea Clinton quotes Salt N Pepa. [Wonkette] Do Pennsyvlanians distrust women or black folks more? [AP] Paris Hilton is a "role model for young girls everywhere," according to Paris Hilton. [Redlasso] Finally, a pundit with the guts to take Hillary to task for this Bosnia thing. What would we do without you, Hitchens? [Slate] Did you hear about this whole "Earth Hour" thing? Yeah, don't worry, nobody did. [Time]
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Lights, Earth, Action.
http://prabhamohan.blogspot.com/2008/03/lights-earth-action....Post Earth Hour, I received some emails and phone calls from friends and family asking if there really is a point to Earth Hour or if we are fooling ourselves into thinking that we can do something about the climate change problem. Some people went on to criticize the event as another meaningless fad of pseudo-intellectuals pretending to care about the world and its problems. In India, people thought the whole idea was pointless given the number of power-cuts in the country anyway. They didn't need an Earth Hour when they are already suffering an Earth Life. Still, some places are turning off power on May 3rd. I wonder why India chose a different date from the rest of the world. Today morning I received an email from my brother with a link to an article on Time. He said: Happened to run into this article on TIME... makes me wonder how real change can happen. Are we saving pennies while someone loots our bank? http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1725947,00.html?cnn=yes To sum up the article in a few words it says: Given that the entire world emits around 27 billion tons of CO2 each year through transportation, electricity use, deforestation., there's very little that any of us can do on an individual level to stop climate change. What is one hour of saving electricity going to achieve when even by living like monks for the rest of our lives, we'll barely scratch the surface. Still, Earth Hour is important as a symbolic gesture, to collectively make a statement about our commitment to solving the problem of climate change. The only way to truly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, to take the pressure off global warming, is an international regime that puts a cap and a price on climate pollution. And the only way that will happen is if politicians around the world become convinced that climate change is an issue that matters to people, one that will make them change the way they live, buy — and vote. The environmental movement is reaching a delicate moment. We're well past the point where just doing your bit to save the Earth deserves endless praise. But this is the moment when we need to keep pushing in every way we can. The technologies that will help us decarbonize energy are developing, but they need a push — and that will only happen if we keep climate change near the top of our political agenda. Earth Hour, Earth Day, Earth Year — we'll need it all. The article sums up how I feel about the event. I don't see Earth Hour as a solution, but as a symbol of concern, of hope. I see people coming together from all over the world, wanting to do something about the environment... anything that makes sense, that puts the issue on the political agenda. I see Earth Hour as a gesture that symbolizes people's commitment to energy conservation. It is a first step of many steps, a reminder of what is important and a celebration of humanity and unity as people come together with one concern that affects all of them, irrespective of where they live on the globe. Perhaps switching off the lights, using public transport, recycling products is not enough. There is more to be done. But by starting here and showing how much it means to us, we hope to make this a priority and eventually find a solution. As far as not finding a need to celebrate Earth Hour in India goes, somehow the power cuts don't seem to help with our country's ecological footprint. With a .8 gha, we may be lower than the world average but it is still higher than the nation's bio-capacity. This is after the compulsory load shedding being thrust on us. According to WWF’s Living Planet Report ranked India 3rd on the list of ‘ecological deficit’ countries with 802 million gha. India hosts about 1% of the world’s forests and 2.2% of land mass but is home for 16% (1.3 billion) of the world population. The recorded forests in the country are about 77.5 million ha or 23.6% of land area. Although forest cover in India in 2003 was higher than previous estimates, the dense forests (canopy density above 40%) continue to be lost at a higher rate (1.3 million ha/year). Conversion of forests for non-forest purposes is one of the key factors in these changes. Globally, the forest loss is about 16 million ha per year and the conversion of forests in the world’s critical eco-regions can lead to irreversible changes in ecosystems and loss of biodiversity. Source Panda.org You may call this irony but I see this as as all the more reason for us to participate in Earth Hour. Moreover, as global citizens, we should see energy conservation as a world problem not as a problem of one nation. After all, with every other problem in our country related to poverty, we look to other countries for support and hope that they will empathize with our situation and help us in whatever way they can. And then, switching off the lights for an hour is a symbolic gesture of concern, its not an act to conserve energy within that one hour, so I don't see how regular power-cuts can come in the way of demonstrating that you care (if you care). In fact I would urge countries doing well energy-wise to participate too and lead by example!
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Earth Hour '08
http://www.npr.org/blogs/talk/2008/03/earth_hour_08_1.html?f...A poster advertising Earth Hour 2008. Source: aussiegall This past Saturday night, the world went dark for an hour.* I missed it of course. I was busy in another kind of darkness -- developing my prints of DC's cherry blossoms in my friend's makeshift darkroom. But, apparently, at 8 pm, starting in Christchurch, New Zealand and working west from Australia, Dubai, and Dublin to New York, Chicago, and finally San Francisco, people from around the globe turned off their lights for a full 60 minutes in an attempt to highlight the link between energy use and climate change. They called it "Earth Hour," and it joins the ranks of other efforts to reduce our carbon footprint, such as Earth Day and last year's Earth Live concert. Bryan Walsh, who writes the Going Green column for time.com, will join us today to talk about his op-ed, "Earth Hour '08: Does It Matter?" So tell us, did you participate in Earth Hour? How did you mark the event? Or did you miss it, like me? In either event, what difference do you think it made, and does it matter? * No, it wasn't a total solar eclipse (cue sigh of disappointment), or a prelude to the apocalypse (cue sigh of relief). -- Ashley Grashaw » E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
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