Its Earth Hour from 8.30

IsaacWunder · 23-03-2013 11:19PM

Remember a couple of years back it was the fashion amongst 20 and 30 somethings to change their Facebook profile pictures to cartoon characters?

This was all done supposedly in order to raise awareness of child abuse.

The fact that you'd have to have been living under a stone for the last 20-odd years not to be aware of child abuse didn't enter the equation.

What mattered was it was a way of making self-absorbed people feel better about themselves while getting a chance to show off their caring side, but without having to spend any money or time/expending any effort whatsoever to actually combat or help the victims of child abuse.

Earth hour is the environmental equivalent of changing your Facebook profile picture, but on a bigger scale.

It's a moronic empty gestures beloved by public relations arseh0les in big companies who couldn't care less about the environment.

Not only that, Earth Hour completely misses the point of what the environmental movement is all about.

The whole purpose of investing in green energy is to see how we're going to keep the lights on without leaving the next generation living in a world that resembles the Mad Max films.

Earth Hour: without a doubt the most stupid campaign ever invented.

Madam_X · 24-03-2013 02:40AM

Wouldn't a global switch-off even for just an hour save a good bit of energy though?

humbert · 24-03-2013 02:54AM

Madam_X wrote: »

Wouldn't a global switch-off even for just an hour save a good bit of energy though?

Post #28 says no.

hames · 24-03-2013 02:57AM

I did the whole Earth hour thing. As did most people on my street, from what I could gather via darkened, twitching net curtains diligently inspecting one another.

However, lightbulbs are one of the least energy intensive appliances in your home.

I did find it a little hypocritical to be showering by candle-light, boiling the kettle via flashlight, and charging my laptop during Earth Hour.

Or, maybe that was the point.

Lapin · 24-03-2013 03:17AM

Earth Hour is a load of bollox.

As an exercise in raising awareness about energy conservation, Earth Hour is a complete waste of time.

Most people will have forgotton about it in less than 48 hours.

But multinational corporations love it as a PR exercise.

Watching the news and seeing the neon Coca Cola billboards being switched off in Times Square or Piccadilly Circus leaves people with a subconcious message that Coke somehow give a shít about the environment.

And many months after Earth Hour, they'll buy a coke under the subliminaly misguided idea that Coke = green environment, even though they won't remember why.

Thats how it works.

Its all a complete load of fúck.

DEFTLEFTHAND · 24-03-2013 03:29AM

Turn it off for what exactly? Do we really an impact on this planet? Or is that just bullsh1t to get a lot of people very rich.

hames · 24-03-2013 03:32AM

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Turn it off for what exactly?

Climate change awareness.

I'm not sure how climate change awareness gets people very rich, in spite of previous warnings of "subliminal" messages.

DEFTLEFTHAND · 24-03-2013 03:47AM

hames wrote: »

Climate change awareness.

I'm not sure how climate change awareness gets people very rich, in spite of previous warnings of "subliminal" messages.

But doesn't climate change run in cycles, for instance we had an ice age before there was an SUV on the planet.

The reason I'm sceptical is that certain people seem to be making a lot money from the 'green' business. Do us humans really have an impact on this ancient planet? Imo opinion no, when was the Industrial Revolution again?

Del2005 · 24-03-2013 04:17AM

Dwork wrote: »

Another example that rots my toot is the C.I.E leaving diesel locomotives idling overnight and for days on end because their starter motors are broken and if they turn them off they can't re-start them without repairing the starter motor. The.mother.of.a.small.person.in.fcukin. chile.wept. Fix the BL00DY starter.

AFAIK it wasn't the starter motors but the actual engines that are knackered. They are so old that the compression is gone and if they stop them they'll never get going again. They where near replacement time so it was easier to leave them running than replace the engine as people still needed to use them till they where replaced.

keith16 wrote: »

We are bombarded with ads telling us to watch our carbon footprint, fine, no problem with that. I would be quite conscious of saving energy in general.

From people who travel the world to meetings about how to stop us travelling the world.

keith16 wrote: »

But then you have the likes of starbucks and other fuckers leaving their lights on all night.

Since most power stations can't be turned off or down it's better to have lights on at night then have the station produce unconsumed electricity. The bigger issue with Statbucks is have they stopped having a tap constantly running in all their stores? Yet I'm sure they made a big issue out of turning off the lights in their stores for an hour.

Which raises a question. Do hundreds of thousands of candles burning for an hour produce more pollution than a normal hour of electrical light? Apart from as already posted it actually doesn't save any electrical energy.

hames · 24-03-2013 04:35AM

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

But doesn't climate change run in cycles, for instance we had an ice age before there was an SUV on the planet.

Ironically enough, events like the last ice age form part of the evidence for climate change, not against it.

The overall evidence for climate change, stretching from the present era back through the millenia, does not excludes all non-manmade reasons for climate change. That is a misconception. Manmade climate change is simply the most recent chapter of the book of evidence.

The reason I'm sceptical is that certain people seem to be making a lot money from the 'green' business.

Eh, I'm confused. Are you sceptical about genetic heritability because some people make a lot of money out of genetics, gene therapy and associated research? How about mathematics, geology, clinical medicine..? Do the normal processes of enterprise normally awaken your disbelief?

DEFTLEFTHAND · 24-03-2013 06:09AM

hames wrote: »

Ironically enough, events like the last ice age form part of the evidence for climate change, not against it.

The overall evidence for climate change, stretching from the present era back through the millenia, does not excludes all non-manmade reasons for climate change. That is a misconception. Manmade climate change is simply the most recent chapter of the book of evidence.

Eh, I'm confused. Are you sceptical about genetic heritability because some people make a lot of money out of genetics, gene therapy and associated research? How about mathematics, geology, clinical medicine..? Do the normal processes of enterprise normally awaken your disbelief?

I'm referring to the Green industry. It's a business type known as a racket, you either intimidate or deceive the 'mark' into buying a bullsh1t product or service. It's an ancient art form, fear is the selling point. Racketeering is a broad subject, it's often associated with organised crime.

hames · 24-03-2013 01:58PM

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

you either intimidate or deceive the 'mark' into buying a bullsh1t product or service.

Except it doesn't. Climate change is an established empirical, scientific fact and the probability of a human activity cause is put at >90%. And this data isn't coming from windfarm companies or the nuclear industry, it comes from peer reviewed research via NASA and the IPCC.

So to call it a racket you really have to substantiate it with something solid.

Dwork · 24-03-2013 02:55PM

hames wrote: »

Except it doesn't. Climate change is an established empirical, scientific fact and the probability of a human activity cause is put at >90%. And this data isn't coming from windfarm companies or the nuclear industry, it comes from peer reviewed research via NASA and the IPCC.

So to call it a racket you really have to substantiate it with something solid.

Indeed. Some day when we're all bored we can discuss funding for research projects and how including the words "man made climate changes" into the proposal bumps your chances of getting a grant by 80%. I'm not that bored today.

Capt'n Midnight · 24-03-2013 09:04PM

Earth hour - no dip on the eirgrid site.

http://imgur.com/bHtf0KD - graphic

Numbers
23/03/2013 20:00 ,3615 ,
23/03/2013 20:15 ,3568 ,
23/03/2013 20:30 ,3527 ,
23/03/2013 20:45 ,3466 ,
23/03/2013 21:00 ,3382 ,
23/03/2013 21:15 ,3343 ,
23/03/2013 21:30 ,3282 ,
23/03/2013 21:45 ,3233 ,
23/03/2013 22:00 ,3168 ,

mike65 wrote: »

Will the last person to switch off the lights switch off the lights?

(don't they usually do this stunt after the clocks go forward)

Actually why don't they do this in that hour ?