Earth Hour: What will/did you do?

Xavi6

So I just had Earth Hour there and I have to say it nearly killed me. No internet, no tv, no playstation......longest 60 mins ever! Luckily the missus was here for a bit of the old hows your father after we had dinner so it wasn't so bad.

Anyway, what will you do? Anyone who's out I presume will carry on as normal in pubs or whatever but those of you who will be at home? Who's gonna turn off the Premiership? How many Earth Hour babies will there be?

MrJoeSoap

May I be the first to say...

Yore Ma.

mike65

I'm going to sit in the bright warmth and feel guilty.

Mike

KdjaCL

Download like a mofo the contention ratio should be in my favour for an hour :cool:


kdjac

tolosenc

Work...

Sanjuro

I have earth hours every night from about 1am til 8am the next morning. So I don't really see the point in doing it in the middle of the day.

strawberryb0y

Looks like google are doin something.
http://www.google.ie/
not sure how much energy they'll save though

DEmeant0r

Turn off the premiership? I thought Earth hour was just the lights?

cormie

I'll be taking part in this with VanTasks by replacing all bulbs in my van with candles for one hour. Can't blame me if I run you over:pac:

Wertz

I'll be dancing on the Earth's grave.

Voodu Child

I've synchronised my house lights with my blink-rate. No sense in having all the lights on when my eyes are closed :pac:

mukki

its all cfl bulbs in this house, and i only have the hall light and the room i'm in's light on


can't do much better then that

Dizzyblonde

I'll turn off all the lights and light the fire. I'm wondering if it's worth it though since the people who light their houses up like Santa's Grotto at Christmas will just use up all the power we save

Caoimhín

Such a f*ukin waste of time, just to spite the Greenies i'm going out to the back garden to burn a few tyres.:mad:

sebastianlieken

lol:D

know what ya shud do!!!, set ur house on fire, thatl surely learn em!:D:D:D

lafors

Dizzyblonde wrote: »

I'll turn off all the lights and light the fire. I'm wondering if it's worth it though since the people who light their houses up like Santa's Grotto at Christmas will just use up all the power we save

So you're going to turn off your lights and light the fire......so you're going to pump out more pollutants out instead of less (which is the idea of using less power), well done :P

btw...I'm only messing, I'm going to go driving with my lights off instead

Jello

I fell asleep there for a couple of hours with no lights/tv/computer/etc on. That better count.

TPD

I saw the google page then turned the brightness on my screen way up. No way im letting them bastards conserve my power! :P

5starpool

Must make sure to leave all the lights, tellys and computers on when I go out tonight.

The guy

strawberryb0y wrote: »

Looks like google are doin something.
http://www.google.ie/
not sure how much energy they'll save though

I thought on LCDmonitors it required more energy to produce black.

I'm going to turn on everything electrical in my house. Just for the sake of it.

toiletduck

Washing my clothes at 40 ftw.

Jumpy

The guy wrote: »

I thought on LCDmonitors it required more energy to produce black.

Heh it does, the backlight doesnt turn off, but it does have to block it out with black.

Gran Hermano

Xavi6 wrote: »

So I just had Earth Hour there and I have to say it nearly killed me. No internet, no tv, no playstation......longest 60 mins ever! Luckily the missus was here for a bit of the old hows your father after we had dinner so it wasn't so bad.

What did you do for the other 58 minutes?

randylonghorn

Gran Hermano wrote: »

What did you do for the other 58 minutes?

Got on his knees and begged, probably!

ninty9er

I'm signing off right now!

Steve.Pseudonym

I'm not doing anything, it's a stupid idea that won't help anyone or do anything for the environment. Google only turned black because it's in vogue to be eco-friendly these days. Stuff like this annoys the hell out of me, if you want to slow climate change stop driving your car, otherwise shut up.

smemon

Steve.Pseudonym wrote: »

I'm not doing anything, it's a stupid idea that won't help anyone or do anything for the environment. Google only turned black because it's in vogue to be eco-friendly these days. Stuff like this annoys the hell out of me, if you want to slow climate change stop driving your car, otherwise shut up.

+1

If you want to stop global warming, build your own wind turbine, cut off your outside electricity supply and get a bike.

Otherwise, stop you're a hypocrite :pac:

mukki

forgot about this

going to turn the pc off when i'm finished buring this dvd


I just turned the lights off

Ponster

The guy wrote: »

I thought on LCDmonitors it required more energy to produce black.

From Google....

As to why we don't do this permanently - it saves no energy; modern displays use the same amount of power regardless of what they display.

Steve.Pseudonym

Google wrote:

To the contrary, on flat-panel monitors (already estimated to be 75% of the market), displaying black may actually increase energy usage. Detailed results from a new study confirm this.

Here

They don't say that on the earth hour page in order to avoid people thinking "huh? so wait, this is actually slightly counter productive? I'm enraged!"

The guy

Steve.Pseudonym wrote: »

I'm not doing anything, it's a stupid idea that won't help anyone or do anything for the environment. Google only turned black because it's in vogue to be eco-friendly these days. Stuff like this annoys the hell out of me, if you want to slow climate change stop driving your car, otherwise shut up.

+1

Exactly, actually do something more constructive.

Mental Mickey

lafors wrote: »

So you're going to turn off your lights and light the fire......so you're going to pump out more pollutants out instead of less (which is the idea of using less power), well done :P

btw...I'm only messing, I'm going to go driving with my lights off instead

staker

this is the start of it, next up.. bog roll rationing

randylonghorn

Steve.Pseudonym wrote: »

I'm not doing anything, it's a stupid idea that won't help anyone or do anything for the environment. Google only turned black because it's in vogue to be eco-friendly these days. Stuff like this annoys the hell out of me, if you want to slow climate change stop driving your car, otherwise shut up.

I think the idea is to raise awareness, rather than assuming that the energy saved in one hour by those people who participate will really be significant.

Even if it's only people arguing about it ^^^ ... that's still awareness of a type!

Steve.Pseudonym

Earth hour - inspiring hate in 2008.

Should be their motto.

AlmightyCushion

I didn't fart or breathe for the whole hour, just think of all the greenhouse gases I stopped from going into the atmosphere.

endplate

Did nothing Global warming is a scam just like the millenium bug. It's used to frightening us to extract money from us. A few years ago Trocaire used to fundraise to help those affected by drought now it's to fight the effects of climate change bloody band wagoners. A hugh big pile of poo. Wait and see in a few years time there'll be something else to scam money out of us:rolleyes:

Stark

:rolleyes:

The reason the whole millenium bug scare was an anti-climax was because of preparation. People went and upgraded their systems instead of sticking their fingers in their ears and pretending nothing was going to happen.

And yes, droughts have happened and still happen. That's another thing that doesn't go away when you switch off the telly.

randylonghorn

endplate wrote: »

Wait and see in a few years time there'll be something else to scam money out of us:rolleyes:

Ah yes, those scammers are getting better and better all right. Not content with sending us emails asking us if we would like to lodge millions into our account on behalf of their much respected late clients, they are now arranging for thousands of people to die every day just to gouge us out of our hard-earned cash. Honestly, you would think the governments of the world would get together and put a stop to it!

strawberryb0y

I decided to do nothing seeing as how today is an hour short

endplate

Stark wrote: »

:rolleyes:

The reason the whole millenium bug scare was an anti-climax was because of preparation. People went and upgraded their systems instead of sticking their fingers in their ears and pretending nothing was going to happen.

So you don't believe it was a scam set up by the computer manufacturers funny I didn't change my PC and nothing happened to it. But I think you answered it yourself in your response. Hint the magic words you used was upgraded their systems which I think made the manufacturers billions.

Wertz

endplate wrote: »

So you don't believe it was a scam set up by the computer manufacturers funny I didn't change my PC and nothing happened to it. But I think you answered it yourself in your response. Hint the magic words you used was upgraded their systems which I think made the manufacturers billions.

Your or my or anyone else's PC weren't really the problem when it came to the Y2K bug...it was larger mainframes and servers used by businesses and some parts of the internet that were the problem, stuff the average computer user never sees....all the money spent fixing/upgrading/re-coding it prior to the event seems wasted because nothing happened...and we were all expecting something to happen because of media hype...but because nothing happened it can be taken to mean that the money was well spent.
If things had gone tits up on Jan 1 00, vital systems closing down, travel chaos, impact on financial systems, communications etc, the world would have been in uproar saying why didn't anyone do anything. You can't win.
I love big global business conspiracies but I don't honestly believe that this was one...

Endplate wrote:

Did nothing Global warming is a scam just like the millenium bug. It's used to frightening us to extract money from us. A few years ago Trocaire used to fundraise to help those affected by drought now it's to fight the effects of climate change bloody band wagoners. A hugh big pile of poo. Wait and see in a few years time there'll be something else to scam money out of us

Global warming isn't a scam as such...it's the whole eco-business that's sprung up around it in an effort to quell the fears it instills in consumers that's the scam. It's too late to do anything but build on higher ground in a temperate climate and grow your own rice...but campaigns like this one and all this carbon neutral BS are paying lip service and giving the masses a way to think they're having a positive impact on a problem that is out of everyone's hands.
Fact is it's too late....it was too late 30 years back when they first started suggesting human-induced climate change. Read some of Jame's Lovelock's books and come back to us...global warming is real but it's the depths of naivety by us as a species to think that we can just undo in a few decades what we've done in 200 years whilst still actually continuing to do what we've always done. A major correction is coming in the whole planetary system and most of us could be alive to see it happen...many of us may not live through it. Turn off all the lights you like if it helps you sleep more soundly...

Stark

endplate wrote: »

So you don't believe it was a scam set up by the computer manufacturers funny I didn't change my PC and nothing happened to it. But I think you answered it yourself in your response. Hint the magic words you used was upgraded their systems which I think made the manufacturers billions.

In many cases an upgrade could simply have been a software patch. In your case, you were probably using either a fairly recent version of Windows (Windows '98 SP1 or newer) or else you got one of the patches that Microsoft sent out through Windows Update.

KenH

Earth is doomed if these answers represent attitudes across the world.

It's called symbolism people. Everyone acting individually and joining together as one (don't get too sick ). You know, the individualism that got us into this mess?

If we can't do this simple thing, what chance have we of making harder choices....like paying abit extra for a more efficient car or bulb. Stuff like that.

This is Ireland though. Where the only symbolism we understand is the Euro sign and the only (community) spirt is at the bottom of a bottle. How times have changed.

In saying that, apparently the national grid power draw went down by 1.2%. Maybe there is hope.
But as a study in curbing our desire for excess, it failed miserably.

Stark

It's a form of slacktivism in my opinion.

The problem is people will turn off their lights for an hour, then think that absolves them of doing anything more.

humanji

KenH wrote:

Earth is doomed if these answers represent attitudes across the world.

It's called symbolism people. Everyone acting individually and joining together as one (don't get too sick ). You know, the individualism that got us into this mess?

If we can't do this simple thing, what chance have we of making harder choices....like paying abit extra for a more efficient car or bulb. Stuff like that.

This is Ireland though. Where the only symbolism we understand is the Euro sign and the only (community) spirt is at the bottom of a bottle. How times have changed.

In saying that, apparently the national grid power draw went down by 1.2%. Maybe there is hope.
But as a study in curbing our desire for excess, it failed miserably.

Damn hippy

Wertz

KenH wrote: »

Earth is doomed if these answers represent attitudes across the world.

No, the Earth will be just fine...it's humans and most other animals high up on the foodchain that are mostly f*cked. Attitudes have little to do with it...

KenH wrote: »

It's called symbolism people. Everyone acting individually and joining together as one (don't get too sick ). You know, the individualism that got us into this mess?

Yes it's symbolism. Nothing more. In the big picture of things it's as much as nothing....even if the whole planet turned off it's lights for a day, we save....a day's worth of fuel it took to generate the light...nothing more. We all get up the next day and have to turn the lights (and all the other fuel/energy hungry devices) back on....that's the reality of it.
I fail to see where individualism got us into this mess....our needs as a species drives us to develop better and better technology for food production, agriculture, improvements in hygeine, health, comfort & wellbeing, migration, travel, utilisation of remote areas and so on.
Nobody set out in the early 1800's saying "Hey let's increase global temperatures by 5 degrees in the next 2 centuries"...that's just something that's happening while we are busy trying to make the world a better place, the only ways we know how...

KenH wrote: »

If we can't do this simple thing, what chance have we of making harder choices....like paying abit extra for a more efficient car or bulb. Stuff like that.

This simple thing was a choice and a symbol as you've already pointed out...paying increased prices for eco friendly essential items won't be as much of a choice; you'll pay the extra if you can afford to or if your conscience goads you into it.
Things that we won't have a choice about paying are increasing fuel prices because of carbon taxes, increased food prices because of competition for land between food and bio-fuel, higher income taxes as governments (not just ours) seek funds to pay for all the added costs that climate change is and will bring.
Stuff like that. You know, stuff that you'll have no choice but to pay.

KenH wrote: »

This is Ireland though. Where the only symbolism we understand is the Euro sign and the only (community) spirt is at the bottom of a bottle. How times have changed.

Yes we only understand money...in fact since it's the only thing we really do understand and what motivates us and makes the world go round, it's the one thing that will force us to change our ways...hence carbon taxes on everything they can be attatched to and higher costs of fuel will force us to change our ways better than any symbolic act may influence into trying to "do our bit". Not that it will make any difference...the only positive thing we can do at this stage is conserve our limited resources....the CO2 genie is already out of the lamp...no amount of turning off lights can stop or reverse that...

KenH wrote: »

In saying that, apparently the national grid power draw went down by 1.2%. Maybe there is hope.
But as a study in curbing our desire for excess, it failed miserably.

What about the draw on the national grid every workday evening between 5pm and 9pm? Would people be willing to turn off non-essential energy using devices at those times, or maybe stagger their use of those devices?
Those 4 hours are the reason our power grid needs an extra 5 fossil-fuel burning power stations to come online so we can all boil the kettle, switch on the street lights, cook for the kids, heat the house...and turn on all those wasteful entertainment devices or 12 halogen downlighters to a room.
It only takes for a cold spell of weather to wipe out any small reduction in the drain on the power grid.
You can't curb the desire for excess; it's in our nature.

randylonghorn

Stark wrote: »

The problem is people will turn off their lights for an hour, then think that absolves them of doing anything more.

Valid point, in fairness.

Beerlao

i live in Dublin i didn't even know about it