Earth Hour

Written By: - Date published: 8:24 pm, March 31st, 2012 - 31 comments
Categories: activism, climate change, energy, Environment, International - Tags:

OK – so we’re a bit late with this – but it’s Earth Hour, 8:30 – 9:30pm NZ time. The lights go out for an hour, in a symbolic call for action on climate change.

Last year: “More than 5,200 cities and towns in 135 countries worldwide switched off their lights for Earth Hour 2011, sending a powerful message for action on climate change.”

Find out more about Earth Hour here, or check out their YouTube Channel.

We’ve only got one planet…

31 comments on “Earth Hour ”

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  1. Graeme 1
    31 March 2012 at 9:11 pm

    Waste of time.

  2. Draco T Bastard 2
    31 March 2012 at 9:41 pm

    Does Earth Hour Do More Harm Than Good?

    My second problem with Earth Hour: it inspires a reactionary push-back from people who think the event is a rejection of modern life, an attempt to show people how much better they had it in
    the 19th century before that first power plant. It sets up a straw-man target that is easily attacked. Instead of discussing actual energy issues, groups such as the Ayn Rand Institute can point to Earth Hour and say, “See, environmentalists just want to reject comfort, convenience, and safety and force you to live in the nineteenth century.”

    Despite my realisation many years ago that the resources that we squander are limited I’ve always ignored Earth Hour. It’s always seemed inconsequential as we need real change, not turning off the lights for an hour once a year.

    • r0b 2.1
      31 March 2012 at 10:01 pm

      Yeah – yeah we do. How do we accomplish it?

      • Colonial Viper 2.1.1
        31 March 2012 at 11:07 pm

        Hard physics and immutable physical constraints will force our hand. Human civilisation won’t voluntarily make the changes required.

        • r0b 2.1.1.1
          31 March 2012 at 11:22 pm

          I agree. But it’s not going to be pretty.

        • Draco T Bastard 2.1.1.2
          1 April 2012 at 12:45 am

          I think humanity will – if they’re informed of the hard physical constraints. Hard physical constraints means that capitalism, which is predicated on perpetual growth, cannot work and so everyone is told that the economy is not the zero-sum game that it is by the economists, the banksters and the politicians.

          Break through that delusion and we could probably achieve the change needed. Easier said than done though especially when so many seem determined to disbelieve reality.

    • Bill 2.2
      1 April 2012 at 8:52 am

      Maybe people could – oh, I dunno – look at the job they do. And make an objective evaluation on whether it is a necessary undertaking from a global warming perspective. And if it’s not a necessary undertaking, then jack it in. And if it is a necessary undertaking then refuse to be party to those parts of their job that make unnecessary contributions to global warming…you know…like those plane flights to conferences and stuff.

      Or maybe people could pretend that their job is necessary cause, like the mortgage has to be paid or whatever and switch off their lights for 60 minutes every year? Yup. That should do it.

    • Gosman 2.3
      2 April 2012 at 7:09 am

      I can’t believe I missed that at the time. Pure comedy gold there DTB.

  3. fabregas4 3
    31 March 2012 at 10:04 pm

    We don’t whilst the Warriors are on TV!

  4. Jenny 4
    31 March 2012 at 10:20 pm

    OK – so we’re a bit late with this

    THE STANDARD

    Better late than never

    Better symbolic action than no action

  5. Mehere 5
    1 April 2012 at 12:13 am

    I fucking love electricity, it’s one of humankind’s most massive achievements. Why are we denigrating it with some symbolic bollocks like this, why not have a day to celebrate mankind’s cleverness and inventiveness. I’ve just spent the day at the RNZAF’s 75th anniversary air show, open-jawed and marvelling at the massive machines that human beings have managed to get off the ground and fly. Fuck, we’re an awesome race. The best this planet’s ever seen.

  6. R 6
    1 April 2012 at 12:22 am

    CV’ll still be commenting on it, that’s for sure.

  7. Clashman 7
    1 April 2012 at 9:11 am

    Put all the onus on the plebs again, do they ground their private jets for an hour….

  8. infused 8
    1 April 2012 at 10:41 am

    I turned on all my lights, all my heaters and opened my door for an hour.

    I hope this helps.

  9. Reagan Cline 9
    1 April 2012 at 12:09 pm

    Bill, yes I think a person can do things that reduce use of fossil fuel and power company provided energy. I agree all of your suggestions are worthwhile and could be achieved without putting people out too much. The internet means people who need to can conference on-line – problem is people benefit from direct face to face contact and it is good to get away sometimes. But it could be more limited – employment contracts for people in academic or professional jobs should not necessarily include a requirement to “attend at least one overseas conference per annum”.
    Also more people are working from home and the internet is making this easier.
    Walk to the shops, cafes, workplace or walk to your car or a bus stop and drive/bus the rest of the way – same coming home.
    Don’t automatically switch the light on.
    Open the windows a fraction – then you won’t need a dehumidifier.
    Wear woollen or silk clothing.
    Plant fruit tress and vegetables and take the trouble to eat them.
    Learn to sew.
    There are lots of small changes that you can make and if more people did they would add up.
    One of the influences hampering this is the way public figures are shown in the media – posing in huge swimming pools in minimalist surrounds that require a lot of energy to maintain – pool machinery and chemicals, leaf blowers, hedge trimmers, weed killers etc.
    The aristocracy and upper class have always gone in for this kind of display and it shows they have access to more than their share of the earth’s resources and are driven in some way to show off.
    A more materially frugal lifestyle does not have to be uncomfortable and inconvenient.

  10. KeepOurAssetsDon'tSell. 10
    1 April 2012 at 4:24 pm

    The Planet is in dire straits with advancing climate change set to eventually stabilize when the Earth reaches a new HOT state. (Sounds like sci-fi horror I know but look up James Lovelock on you tube for interviews. Gaia sequestered all those carbon deposits,oil, coal,gas for a reason! To balance conditions in the Planet’s biosphere to facilitate life’s flourishing But we have dug it up and burned them for energy)
    All that energy has enabled us to devastate this Planet. with overpopulation and ravishment of its environment and the Oceans. It’s happened so quickly we were hardly aware of it ’till one morning those Science Bods and Greenpeace types told us so!

    Yes Earth Hour is an infinitesimal token considering the reality.

    There’s a very good article on the Climate Change’s run away train albeit very slow at first at Nature bats Last Guy McPherson’s blog

    Link: http://guymcpherson.com/2012/03/the-cost-of-affluence/

    The Cost of Affluence
    It’s serious stuff. I have been familiar with all the dire forecasts since the early 90s what’s distressing and painful is they’re coming true, especially the ones about our frozen air conditioner the Arctic ice cap disappearing.

    Climate change is shaking the world, literally
    Global warming borders is close to being irreversible, according to conservative scientists
    Greenland’s ice will melt at a much lower temperature than previously estimated
    It might be irreversible already
    The Arctic death spiral continues unabated
    After all, a carbon time bomb has been dropped in the Arctic
    At the other pole, an iceberg the size of New York state is about to break away from Antarctica
    For many years, people have been metaphorically stealing glaciers to put into cocktails. Now they’re literally doing it.
    Habitat for millions of people will disappear with flooding from the oceans
    Water, water, everywhere, but the world’s rivers are failing to make it all the way to the oceans
    Oceans are acidifying at an ‘unparalleled’ rate, and will not survive business-as-usual disaster-as-usual
    Conveyor belt tipping point has been reached, as I pointed out in this space more than a year ago
    As I also pointed out, at the same time under slightly different name, ‘Compost bomb’ is latest climate change ‘tipping point’
    Meanwhile, drought in the southwestern United States is intensifying even as U.S. heat waves are set to intensify from New York to Los Angeles
    According to tables of flowering dates in 1840s Massachusetts, average temperature already has risen 2.4 C in Concord since the industrial revolution began
    Elsewhere in the United States, the heat is unprecedented, with 7,000 record high temperatures so far this year
    A vital species of tree killed by climate change brings to mind one my favorite lines from Derrick Jensen: “Forests greet us and deserts dog our heels”
    The abundance of dire information and a slow news days causes even ABC “News” to point out the weather weirding

  11. Draco T Bastard 11
    1 April 2012 at 5:02 pm

    World on course for catastrophic 6° rise

    The world is now firmly on course for the worst-case scenario in terms of climate change, with average global temperatures rising by up to 6C by the end of the century, leading scientists said yesterday. Such a rise – which would be much higher nearer the poles – would have cataclysmic and irreversible consequences for the Earth, making large parts of the planet uninhabitable and threatening the basis of human civilisation.

    BTW, have I mentioned that the free-market is irrational due to people not knowing WTF they’re doing? Anthropogenic Climate Change is one of the results of that irrationality.

    • Gosman 11.1
      2 April 2012 at 7:11 am

      I can’t believe I missed you posting that during 2010. Pure comedy gold there DTB.

  12. Reagan Cline 12
    1 April 2012 at 8:56 pm

    Let’s not forget the effect of climate change on infectious diseases. People who can will have to relocate and eat differently. They will also have to prevent and treat infectious diseases on a scale we have no recent experience of.
    Most people will die, maybe including our children.
    So we should try to do something to prevent it happening.
    Each of us can make a difference – we just have to be shit-scared enough.

  13. LoveIT 13
    3 April 2012 at 2:22 pm

    Why just be symbollic? Come on, its a good cause!. Ditch the house, the car, the ‘puter, the heating etc.

    Go live in that cave.

    You would if you really cared.

    And its what you want for others, really, isn’t it?

  14. Richard McGrath 14
    3 April 2012 at 9:56 pm

    Did everyone on this group turn their lights off for Earth Hour like they did in North Korea? Oh, hang on, the North Koreans do that every night don’t they. Wait a minute, so few of them have lighting that it just looks that way judging by the satellite pics. Gosh, they’re ‘green’ over there, aren’t they?

    • Mehere 14.1
      4 April 2012 at 1:10 am

      They’re not going green. they’re just going backwards, socialism in action…

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