Earth Hour

[Animelee]

Yes, but on the lowest settings.

[Sideswipe]

ok, i think i understand now.

so more bananas.....

[Beechy]

And beer cans with a little bit of beer left.....

[Sideswipe]

i hear beer cans are recyclab...........

oh wait, i see what you did there.

[Aernaroth]

Originally Posted by bluefrenzy

Don't forget Earth Hour is meant to send a message that one person can make an impact --> so even if you didn't participate, there are things you do for the other 8764hours in a year to change. Then as a collective whole a greater impact will be felt.

I agree with Devilsknight in that the government (federal, provincial and municipal) needs to take some leadership. Unfortunately, it's all about money so big greedy corporations aren't going to change their practices (oil, vehicle, electricity companies). I do like the ideas that Obama and California are presenting though. What I find humourous are the bone-heads that freaked out over the wind turbine at the in Toronto. What's even more disturbing is that people who are so against wind farms are for generating electricity the old unsustainable way by burning coal/oil/gas. Remember the super blackout we had in Toronto ... that just shows how reliant we are on the electricity monopoly.

For example, if every house was outfitted with a small wind generator (about the size of a laser printer) and solar panels, it would cut the electricity bill by approximately half (obviously depending on your consumption). But at the moment cost and government redtape are prohibitive. The electricity company DOESN'T want you to do it because that'll cut into their bottom line. But those hydro corporate guys are smart --> they've jumped on to the GREEN bandwagon and they'll now lease you a turbine or solar panels so you can have the privelage of generating power at an equivalent or higher cost than it would for regular electricity (no rebate if you feed back to the grid, I think).

Wind Power is unreliable, as the wind doesn't always blow, and many wind turbines will never even generate the energy to make up for the energy they consumed in having their materials processed, formed, manufactured, and installed, once losses are accounted for. This is not to say that there aren't situations where wind power is feasible, but they are insufficient for wind power to have a real impact on power supplies.

Solar power is even worse, unfortunately. The sun only shines half the day (tops), and even an entire solar car worth of solar cells only generates enough energy to power a toaster. Furthermore, current solar cell technology is prohibitively expensive, they are energy intensive to produce, and require the use of various toxic materials. Unless significant advancements in the area are made, the photovoltaic cell will remain, like wind power, an exotic novelty power source. Other solar power methods, such as molten salt methods, are more efficient, but are even more limited in where they can be applied than wind power.

In Ontario, the power company is, for all intents and purposes, publically owned (the province is the major stakeholder). You can complain that electricity companies or government don't want alternative power sources all you want, but given that they're the ones paying for most of them, it's unlikely to be true. If the sources were so cost-effective and great, then these same organizations would be chasing after them for the same bottom-line reasons you stated.

Furthermore, the blackout you mentioned had nothing to do with the electricity "monopoly" in Ontario, which isn't even a monopoly since there are other companies, such as Bruce Power, in the game. That blackout was an accident caused hundreds of miles away, that knocked out power provided by dozens of power companies across a sizable chunk of North America.

People in this thread can say shame on someone for not turning off their lights for an hour, and they can imply we're all immature and irresponsible. But it doesn't make them right, just as thousands of people, hell, even millions, are unlikely to cause more change than an internet petition by just turning out their lights for an hour a year. You want to do something to help the cause of sustainability? Write your local MP an actual letter asking what THEY'RE doing to promote alternative energies. Ask the candidates the same during elections, and vote accordingly. Rather than turning your lights off for some hour long feel good ritual, go spend your bill-paying dollars on some LED/Fluorescent light bulbs (though that's a whole other discussion, as both will eventually wear out, and contain toxic materials), take care to recycle every aluminum can you have (recycled aluminum represents a 97% energy saving over new aluminum, and saves the emission of CFCs emitted during the smelting process as well), and stop using plastic water bottles, one of the prime sources of plastic waste and a considerable waste of petroleum-based resources. When you buy a home, shop for one with sustainable certification (LEEDS, E-star, etc). Ride your bike instead of driving a hybrid, or take the bus/subway. If one person can make as much of a difference as you claim, it should bring some REAL results.

[Sideswipe]

So.......................

less bananas?

[Black Cat]

Didn't this used to be called Earth Day? I remember my school making us go around the property and down the street to clean up every piece of trash we came across.

Did a day devoted to picking up a coffee cup off the street if you passed by it get to be too much?

And for Earth Hour to maybe actually mean something, it's the businesses that should be turning off their lights. I looked out my window during that hour... Toronto and Brampton were all lit up.

[Nightscrabbler]

Originally Posted by Black Cat

Didn't this used to be called Earth Day?

Earth Day still exists, Earth Hour just refers to the specific hour when people are encourage to turn off or reduce power consumption.

[Aernaroth]

Originally Posted by Sideswipe

So.......................

less bananas?

yeah, try apple cores instead.

[pud333]

Originally Posted by Aernaroth

People in this thread can say shame on someone for not turning off their lights for an hour, and they can imply we're all immature and irresponsible. But it doesn't make them right, just as thousands of people, hell, even millions, are unlikely to cause more change than an internet petition by just turning out their lights for an hour a year.

I totally forgot about Earth Hour, and I consider myself quite aware of the environment. You're right, people shouldn't be scolding someone for not turing off their light.

In general, I just think this is more about awareness than actually making change. Real change comes from a change in lifestyle, as well as a petition to those in power. At the end of the day, we should have the power with our vote, but really, I don't think most Canadians care enough to sacrifice. And when I say sacrifice, I don't mean recycling or turning off lights. I mean not driving, less consumption, etc.

Imagine a politician of a major political party telling everyone at election time to stop driving their cars and get on bikes for exercise. Think he'll get elected? Hell no. There's a lot of things I wish people would do, but it just ain't gonna happen. So I just try my best to do my part as I hope everyone else does too. After all, Earth is our only home.