Earth Hour 09: Are you participating?

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Originally Posted by stins 

 

Now...another question is...beyond the symbolic significance, does Earth Hour accomplish much in terms of reduced electricity consumption?

No, it's a purely symbolic gesture.  Most power plants don't even power down overnight because it takes so much energy to power them back up.  One hour's worth of reduced consumption unfortunately won't have any effect on power production.

But there's nothing wrong with symbolic gestures and increasing awareness.  I participated last year and will do so again this year.

Thanks for promoting Earth Hour! Another way you can recruit people to the cause is by creating a Earth Hour group on Commit21.com. Simply create a group about one action that you will commit to do for Earth Hour and recruit your friends, family, and co-workers to get involved in that action as well. When it comes to climate change, simple actions can make huge differences and Commit21 leverages social media to influence networks of friends, family, and co-workers. Check it out at www.commit21.com

I agree, it is an important symbolic gesture.  I am unsure of any physical impact though.  I like to hope that it does something, but Dana has a good point.

In terms of meaning though, i think it is important.  I did this last year with my family.  We all got together for dinner that night and then turned off all the lights and pcs and everything else for an hour.  My nephew was scared (he doesn't like the dark) but after that night, he is always asking if we can turn out all the lights again.  Definitely something I think families can get into with their kids.

Of course the idea of cities and businesses participating is fun too.  Our green restaurant commission here also participates, lighting their tables with soy candles for the whole night.

i forgot last year! <beetroot red face smiley>

problem for me is i was in a fire once,and won't have candles in the caravan. so its the wind up lantern and i cant read by that.....

<looks up radio times>

oh gawd a classical music quiz followed by 'poetry please'. that's radio 4 out then. i'll find something to do i'm sure. hey! marathon slug hunt! yesssssss......

My family and I will be participating again this year and last year it was nice to see so many of our local businesses shut off the lights as well.  I also, am not sure on the actual impact of power usage that Earth Hour has (I'm sure it becomes a bit more significant each year as more people participate).  I do believe that along with the statement Earth Hour serves as an important reminder of how different things would be without lights & electricity and therefore it should not be taken for granted.  This year along with our lights we will be taking it a step up and unplugging all our electrical items (except for the fridge cause rotten food is good for no one!).

Hope everyone joins in and has lots of fun reconnecting with people in a much more intimate surrounding.

We'll definitely be participating this year too. :)  I agree with Dana about no significant reduction in electricity consumption.  But, I strongly believe that symbolic significances will be helpful to steer human behavior in the right direction.  I really believe that if you want to change the world it starts with the minds of the people.  The rest will just fall into place.  If we can win the war of the minds of the people, then there is real hope for the world.  The alternative of force is short lived.

I wrote about EH in 2008 and i'm sure i'll write about this on 2009 too and also this year i'll even close my electrical stuffs

According to their website, participation will be used as "votes" to be presented at Copenhagen, for the purpose of showing policy makers that there is indeed public demand for action. I'm a bit skeptical that they'll actually pay attention to it, but who knows. At least it gives a glimmer of hope that it will be more than just a symbolic gesture.

Yeah! I am surely going to VOTE EARTH by simply switching off your lights for one hour on March 28th @ 8.30PM. I have a plans to celebrate this hour by having candle light dinner with family.

While to my knowledge this will not cause any actual impact, the symbolic impact of the event continues to grow, as is evidenced by increasing participation.

I'll be participating again this year, and hope that many of my friends will do so as well.

--Starwind 

The city where I work in California sent out flyers to each facility.  I posted it prominently for the public, but didn't have an opportunity to promote it among my coworkers.  I'll be participating, and I hope the groundswell of support is effective here and elsewhere.

Sorry - I am not into symbolic acts.

Lets try doing something useful/ 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Russ 

 

Sorry - I am not into symbolic acts.

 

Lets try doing something useful/ 

Ah, but in completing the exercise you are reminded of your dependence in a most dramatic fashion!  While we labored to carry on under candlelight -- there wasn't much of a moon to speak of -- our neighbors were having an energy hungry party, illustrating the uphill battle in educating people about awareness programs and their overall consumption. 

My husband slipped up once, when he let the dog out.  He flipped on the outside light before I switched it off again.  We chose to play out the evening in this fashion, and for us it also served as an earthquake drill -- where are the candles, the flashlights, the emergency supplies. And that leaving the trainset out after my grandson visited was not a great idea on that particular evening -- I had to do a sweep of kid, cat and dog toys so I wouldn't trip in the dark!  I thought it was very productive in that way, and another productive step would have been to offer a tangible suggestion in your comments, such as "Let's try doing something useful like installing smart power strips or taking a long walk instead of watching TV."

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Originally Posted by AmyLOC 

 

our neighbors were having an energy hungry party, illustrating the uphill battle in educating people about awareness programs and their overall consumption. 

 

I had that problem once... Some cheeky neighbours in my previous apartment "borrowed" my garage mains extension to plug in their garden party, running a big loud music system off my electricity!  It soon went quiet when I came home and switched off the extension from my kitchen.  No power to the people!!!

it was cold and i was miserable so i went to bed. sad eh? but i have started getting up at dawn and using the whole day, so it helped set me into the new routine, which of course is more energy efficient.