What are you doing for Earth Hour on March 26, 2011?

Going around and turning every light in my house and around my property ON. Not that I’m against saving evergy or doing my part and the like, but this is just how stuff like this starts. You ‘volunteer’ to turn your lights off for one hour just to do your part, then eventually the government is mandating those Smart Meters that Obama spoke of to be installed in your house so they could control when you do your laundry or turn your lights on and off, making sure you ‘do your part,’ even against your will. It starts with little steps like Earth Hour, ends with endless government intervention into our personal lives where they don’t belong just because they got their foot in the door, if you will.

I’m doing the same as @12Oaks – not because I’m afraid that this is “how it all starts” but because I really, really hate the Green movement guilting me like I’m a prostitute in a Catholic Church.

Can someone please fill me in on this “Earth Hour”? What the hell is it? I haven’t been paying attention to much lately.

@KatetheGreat It’s where you turn off all the electricity in your house (that you can – you can leave fridges on, and always leave life support on) for an hour, and everyone does it at the same time.

@MyNewtBoobs Thanks! Hmmm, I’ll most likely turn everything in my house on. Like people have said, I’m really getting sick of the “green movement”.

@KatetheGreat Awesome! I’m mostly confused about “Earth Hour” – wouldn’t it be better to promote a general lifestyle that consumes less energy than turning off everything for an hour once a year? It seems more like a publicity stunt than an actual move towards a solution and a better world.

@MyNewtBoobs and soon the promote a general lifestyle that consumes less energy will turn into a mandate. Kind of like smoking and that. “Oh, come on. Just a simple little warning label on the packs. No big deal.” 40 years later, look at how smokers are treated and thought of by some simply because of a lifestyle choice that they made. Pelosi already said she wanted to ban black cars in California to save the planet somehow.

I quit smoking some time ago, by choice. Still believe in the rights of the indivisual, though

@12Oaks & @MyNewtBoobs With all due respect, we Americans are less than5% of the world’s population and we consume 25% of the world’s total energy consumption. With the rest of the world wanting to live like us, we are looking at an energy policy that’s completely unsustainable. Of course, if it makes you feel better to deliberately waste energy for an event meant to heighten conservation awareness, knock yourself out. The power company will love you guys for it.

I just wonder what would happen if everyone in a large metropolitan area actually did cut every non-vital light and appliance off at exactly the same moment. I bet the resulting surge would pop transformers up and down the grid.

1 hour ever year. Big fucking deal. Why not just trying to make an effort to conserve energy better on a daily basis instead of making yourselves feel good by turning the power off for 1 measly hour out of 8766.

@uberbatman I guess it’s meant to remind us to do that, but your point, noted by @MyNewtBoobs as well, makes a great deal of sense.

@ETpro ahhh so it appears she did. I suppose I should read others posts before writing stuff. Ahh the downfalls of drunken fluthering :P

@ETpro See, there’s the guilt trip I was talking about. Wouldn’t it be nice if people could present a rational argument on how my life will be improved soon by doing green things instead of telling me how I’m a bad person for not agreeing with you?

@MyNewtBoobs But my dear, I thought I did. Your electricity bill would be cut in half if you use energy like the Japanese or the Europeans do, :-)

@ETpro And now you’re being condescending and telling me I’m not good enough. For all you know, I’m generally very conservative except for Earth hour. Isn’t it more important that I actually save than that I brag about doing it? Or harass others about not doing it?

It is not a good idea to turn off all of the outside security/safety lights. A burglar might trip in the dark and get injured. That would be a bummer.

I’ll turn off all of our inside lights when we go to bed (much later than 2030hrs).

@MyNewtBoobs Of course it’s important to use reasonable conservation methods to cut our energy use. And it saves us money doing so. But I take exception at vilifying those who conceived of Earth Hour. I think that such efforts call attention to the need to conserve energy, and that is not a bad thing.

@ETpro I thought Earth Hour was a great idea the first time around. Now I think it’s pointless – the first time, it was a stunt, but a stunt to bring awareness, not actually feel that it was doing a whole lot. And I don’t have a problem with the idea that was created, I have a problem with the tactics used by the movement to make people feel bad to get their way. I feel that way about all movements that use shame and guilt to get their way.

@MyNewtBoobs I see. I have never felt that pressure, so perhaps I misunderstood where you were coming from.

The Earth Hour event is not meant to actually make a physical impact for that one hour. It is the gesture ..one hour a year that people can actually do something together ..as a gesture of conservation and respect for our planet. It’s a movement of awareness. There are hundreds, if not thousands of gatherings to celebrate the event every year since it started.

The first year of Earth Hour, my partner and I went near downtown to celebrate with a bunch of people ..we all held candles and it was cold. There was free hot chocolate and coffee. There were people of all ages and races. The neatest part about it was the feeling of having so many people that actually came out of their comfy homes (most took public transit or walked) to be part of an important movement. Then at 8:30pm, as we all watched from across the river, at least half of the downtown went dark. It was a good feeling.

I guess I don’t see it as a guilt thing… or a government intrusion. To me, it is an hour of honoring and respecting our planet. It’s an hour to bring awareness to an ever increasing issue (that so many people still don’t seem to give a damn about in these “modern” times).

And, yes, I consider myself an environmentalist and conservationist. I do what I can ..within my means.

And if it makes others feel “bad” or “guilty” ..maybe that’s their problem and not the “green movement” ..eh?

By asking the question, I really thought there’d be more positive responses ..it saddens me.

@PluckyDog I do not have to feel guilt or shame or “bad” in order to recognize language formulated to illicit that response.

Nothing special really. We’re just going to switch off the lights. That’s all. Maybe we’ll hang out on our front/backyard and watch the stars.

I like to observe it because it’s soothing to sit quietly by candlelight and have a glass of wine. I do that sometimes anyway. Reducing use of resources is not a bad idea whether it’s a stunt or not. Raising awareness is not a bad thing.

I completely forgot it was Earth Hour.

Incidentally, I had more lights on than usual.

My celebration of Earth Hour will be to cut off the air machine to my fish tank.

Will my fish survive?

@john65pennington probably if its only off for an hour but not worth the risk IMO

@ETpro Chicago will be doing that, as all the Loop buildings that can cut their lights will. It actually is a pretty cool thing to see, and it is reported (by the mainstream media who does have a stake in this) that it does, in fact, make a difference.

Just for the record, someone like me is all for conservation, saving power where possible, recycling, and much of what is prescribed for a “greener world.” But someone likes to do it because we choose to, not because of some government mandate. Like I say, it scares me to think of what happens if this voluntary act catches on, it then becomes mandatory as the local power companies will cut off supply for the hour forcing participation, then eventually the government has all control over your power usage ala Smart Meters.

Stuff like this has happened before, and someone like me isn’t going to let another freedom go as easily as all that. Am on my way out soon here. Before hand I will take a shower as quickly as possible, turn the heat down, and make sure all power that is not necessary in my absence but cut off. Voluntarily, not mandated. That’s the difference.

@12Oaks Yeah, Boston does it too. It is fun to go out to the Boston Common and gather with the crowd that watched downtown Bosaton’s skyscrapers and all the big office complexes across the Charles River go dark at 8:30. But it’s so cold and windy I may stay home tonight.