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EARTH HOUR 2009 – TONIGHT!!

By Larry Doyle on March 28, 2009 at 5:25 PM in Current Affairs

Earth Hour is tonight, Saturday March 28th from 8:30-9:30PM local time.

From EarthHour.org:

earth-hour1THIS YEAR, EARTH HOUR HAS BEEN TRANSFORMED INTO THE WORLD’S FIRST GLOBAL ELECTION, between Earth and global warming. For the first time in history, people of all ages, nationalities, race and background have the opportunity to use their light switch as their vote – Switching off your lights is a vote for Earth, or leaving them on is a vote for global warming. WWF (World Wildlife Fund) are urging the world to VOTE EARTH and reach the target of 1 billion votes, which will be presented to world leaders at the Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen 2009. This meeting will determine official government policies to take action against global warming, which will replace the Kyoto Protocol. It is the chance for the people of the world to make their voice heard.

IN 2009, EARTH HOUR IS BEING TAKEN TO THE NEXT LEVEL, with the goal of 1 billion people switching off their lights as part of a global vote. Unlike any election in history, it is not about what country you’re from, but instead, what planet you’re from. VOTE EARTH is a global call to action for every individual, every business, and every community. A call to stand up and take control over the future of our planet. Over 74 countries and territories have pledged their support to VOTE EARTH during Earth Hour 2009, and this number is growing everyday.

      

Bloomberg has an interesting piece, also: Earth Hour May Prompt 1 Billion to Turn Off Lights

We’ll be participating in our household. Lights out between 8:30-9:30PM. What say you?

  • Diana

    I’m ready we’re turning off all electricity for an hour from the box.

  • I’mFedUp

    Sorry, I think the Global Warming thing is nonsense and I will be turning everything I own on full blast instead. I have my own scientific explanation for the earth warming and it has nothing to do with Al Gore’s con job. Don’t hate me. I just don’t agree.

    • Diana

      I have a theory also. I think a lot of what is happening is natural. It is the Earth’s way of survival, her natural cleansing process. That she’s getting ready to tilt on her axis as signaled by the pause in the Chandler’s wobble, as she’s done many times before.

      However, I also believe we do/do a lot of things to screw up the environment on both sides. Planting things that are not indigenous to their region. Re-introduction of animals that nature has already marked for extinction, in numbers that should not be, that cause even greater problems in disease, starvation, overpopulation. Etc. That’s why I’m doing it. I am not an Al Gore Global Warming follower. I used to adore the man, now I can’t stand him.

      • JustMe~~

        LOL Diana funny how these once was folk make us turn away from them! I used to like Al Gore till he can out and endorse 0 where would he of been without Clinton…..and where is he now defending his Global warming.

  • John Galt

    I`m turning on every light in the house. I even strung Christmas lights outside. 37,000 scientists have sued Al Gore claiming it`s bull. Even a well known Princeton and MIT professor say it`s garbage.

    • I’mFedUp

      There’s a very easy explanation as to why the Earth warms every 26,000 years. It has nothing to do with Al Gore fraudulently collecting an Oscar.

    • http://www.marklevinshow.com/ Seattle Moss

      Ironically the only thing perhaps preventing the next Ice Age may be Man’s economic activity pollution and all. Industrial output is down up to 50% world wide and up here in Latte land we’re having one of the coldest winters I have ever seen.

      Cutting off industrial growth with carbon taxes and regulations to control carbon dioxide may be the tipping point which may end the interglacial period and start the next Ice Age.

      I would really like to see the look on Gore’s face then…

  • John D

    Those who happen to be driving at that hour should turn their headlight off too. And I wonder if all the TV, radio stations will turn off their lights. As far as I can predict, all the major networks will be voting for global warming…hehe…

  • jeremy

    whatever happened to acid rain?

    • cynic

      Nothing happened to it, other than that it has slipped out of the media spotlight. Forests have been seriously impacted over most of Europe. The same is true of southwestern Canada. Forests in upstate New York have been very badly effected. Many lakes in all of those areas are so acidified they’re essentially dead. In Egypt, the sphinx is dissolving. Stonework and building fascades are being erroded throughout much of Europe and North America.

  • Valerie

    Whether you believe in global warming or not, it can’t hurt to save an hour’s worth of electricity.

    • I’mFedUp

      Another poster here says that it does damage to the grid to do it. If that’s true, then it CAN hurt.

      • Ferd Berfle

        Mainly because the grid needs some long-overdue maintenance and upgrades. We get outages here in east TN often because of out-dated equipment which is being held together by mostly prayer.

        • I’mFedUp

          Believe it or not, I live in a place in LA you would think would have decent electricity considering the real estate. Nope, every time it rains out goes the power. It was so bad one time I tracked down my rep on a Saturday afternoon, on his cell, drinking a beer and watching football, to yell at him.

          • Ferd Berfle

            Nope, every time it rains out goes the power.

            I wasn’t aware of that happening there. I had the same problems when I lived in eastern Washington state and when on temp assignment in Aberdeen, Md. It seems to get worse every year. I know as a kid the outages were not as often or for as long.

        • I’mFedUp

          PS Ferd, what part of Tennessee are you in? My family is all over TN…Memphis, Nashville, Hendersonville, Murfreesboro, Knoxville, Clarksville, etc.

          • Ferd Berfle

            Harriman, just up the hill from the fly-ash spill

    • KR

      I conserve energy year round because I chose to. My carbon footprint for a year is probably less than what Gore’s is for a week. In my opinion, he is a phony as well as all the other politicians preaching the man-caused-global-warming-garbage.

      Obama’s plans on the topic of energy is going to be a disaster. There are projections that many jobs will be lost and huge amounts of tax payer money thrown away.
      http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2009/03/democrats-proposed-green-policies-will.html

      I don’t like to waste energy or money, so why should I want the government to?

      I like the “Human Achievement Hour” idea just because I am sick of these “do gooders”, and we Americans do need to stop and think about all the innovation over the years because we have had the benefit of a less intrusive government compared to other nations.

      • I’mFedUp

        KR you are right. Remember Carter? And it’s my prediction that Obama will cause oil to shoot up to 200$/Barrel. What does he care though? It will make his friends happy.

        • KR

          Well, for Obama it is always about what is “fair” in his twisted mind. Don’t confuse him with the facts.

  • http://www.sonicninjakitty.wordpress.com Sonic Ninja Kitty

    Here’s another take that makes sense, too, celebrate “Human Achievement Hour”:
    http://www.floppingaces.net/2009/03/28/leave-a-light-on-tonight/

    I’ll probably just ignore both sides–I’m an independent now. :)

  • johnnyA

    Bow your heads in darkness and shame

  • fsteele

    The grid has had plenty of warning. I expect they can muddle through undamaged.(Otherwise they would say so, and the media would warn us, gloating loudly.)

  • Doc99

    How big is THIS Carbon Footprint?

    • Diana

      Wow! Can you imagine how much gas was down there to keep that thing burning for 35 years?

  • HARP

    All my lights are on, just to piss them off!!

    • http://noquarter foxyladi14

      me too Harp.it,s our independence thing..

  • andrew191

    How about if I use my dimmer switch to turn my lights to 50%. Could that by considered a vote for a common sense approach to the natural fluctuations of temperature that we call “weather”? The only thing man made about climate change, is the rhetoric supporting it.

    • HARP

      Ha…..That’s like voting present.

  • http://deleted Aaron

    Global warming is such a hoax! Does anyone remember Y2K and the forced upgrade and ensuing technology bubble because the modern world was in peril? If you GW believers really do adhere to this tired dogma please take the next logical steps. Never eat meat, turn off your computer, never buy another product that is not produced locally, move to a dorm in the city for the sake of efficiency and demand that clothes are produce in only one color and type for everyone in society. The list goes on and on but the idea that this symbolic effort has any meaning is questionable at best. Larry you said you took logic at Holy Cross so you should no that testing an idea at an extreme is a valid technique for determining the strength of any argument.

  • http://www.senseoncents.com LD

    I am not in the tank for extreme environmentalism and think Al Gore is extreme in his views. That said, I don’t think it hurts to be environmentally sensitive.

    I think that is all Earth Hour is about…or at least it is for me.

    Plus having just watched a great Pitt-Nova game with the lights off wasn’t all that bad.

    • I’mFedUp

      LD…No disrespect to your post…I think being earth conscious is great. I just really have issues with Al Gore and his BS theories. Thanks for the post and for reminding us to love Mother Earth.

    • http://deleted Aaron

      For the record I’ve been eating organic food for ten plus years after having digestive problems. I also minimize my personal impact when possible and recycle religiously. The reality is Global Warming will lead to Global government control, just look at Obama’s budget. Obama uses the carbon tax to generate at least 750 billion in new revenue but only alots 80 – 150 billion for renewable energy and the rest is spent on health care. The expenditure arguably might be valid but the underhanded way it is obtained would be comical if it wasn’t happening to me. The Europeans have done the same thing because their politicians like ours love to spend other peoples money.

      • http://deleted Aaron

        If the politicians really believed we have problem shouldn’t they spend all the money on renewable energy production and research?

      • heather

        If you’re eating Whole Foods organics thinking that you’re minimizing your impact on the earth, you’re probably doing less than you think. Just because those bananas were grown organically, doesn’t mean that they weren’t then shipped thousands of miles to get to you. Whole Foods is the corporate superstore in the organic world. They work within the letter of the law, mostly, but often not within the spirit of it. It’s feel-good organics.

        If you really want to minimize your impact on the earth, locally grown organics would be a good start. If you live in a cold place like I do, though, it’s tough!!!

    • Diana

      Aww you cheated. We turned off everything. Made a little fire. My children and their spouses, children were here. We had a great time. We told stories and played charades with the children. The hour went really quick. I didn’t even think about making smores…

  • so saddened

    am very careful about power and water use, am obsessive about recycling, buy used whenever possible, donate anything that’s still usable, etc. however, made sure my lights, etc., were ON during the appointed hour. refuse to participate in any propagandized event, particularly those associated with phonies like gore.

    will make sure my lights, etc., are off as much as possible, every hour of every day, except this one hour a year.

  • kgirl1028

    LOL here I was feeling I was the only one who doesn’t give a rats patooty about this foolish excuse to jack up energy prices at the worst time in history, and i find more people feel like me.

    Let’s be real for the past 30 some odd years we have had mostly democratic congress, two democratic president and a vice president so green he’s a tree and we have done nothing to find alternative fuel sources. No we wait until we are on the verge of economic collapse to figure out we need to do something different? Hell Nah! This is just one more way these freaks we elected to have there nose in our business. Solve our money problems then we can talk about fuel alternatives. Until then I’m going to let it shine.

  • Ellen D

    So I guess I’m the only person sitting in the dark with a dozen candles, drinking wine with my iBook and NQ. Quite pleasant, actually. I might do it past the mandated time. Cheese and crackers anyone?

    • Diana

      We had so much fun we went over the hour and didn’t even notice, till my grandchildren wanted to make smores. If I’d have thought about making smores we’d probably still be sitting around a little fire in the fire place and being silly.

      • andrew191

        Sorry to say this, but, being needlessly in the dark is akin to being an 0bama supporter. I hope this doesn’t ruin your evening. ;)

        • Diana

          Don’t make me poke you in that winking eyeball…

  • Pingback: Hot News » What Time Is Earth Hour

  • Greg

    This is a perfect explanation of a dream I had the other day. The guy down the street put his Christmas decorations back up in his front lawn. Man, was he ready to light it up !!!

  • http://noquarterusa No-nonsense-Nancy

    Where do all of you people live that you already have turned your lights out or not? It isn’t quite 8:30 in PA and it isn’t even dark out yet.
    My daughter is an anthropologist and she says that the climate on earth has changed drastically every 10,000 years (ice ages,etc.) and that we are at the very end of this 10,000 years. There is not much we can do about it.

  • Diana

    Just found this:

    Do as I say, not as I do? Seems like former Vice-President Al Gore may be embracing that motto as evidenced Saturday night with the environmentalist’s failure to turn off the lights of his Nashville home for “Earth Hour.”
    Drew Johnson, president of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research —the same organization that also found Gore’s home consumes 20 times more electricity than the average household — told Yeas & Nays that Gore’s Belle Meade-section mansion did not go dark during the global campaign’s designated hour between 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.
    Johnson did admit that although it wasn’t as bright as can be, Gore did have on “a dozen or so” floodlights on his trees, a light shining on his address number, and a noticeable “bluish glow” from his powered-on televisions and computers coming from inside his house.
    “It was very noticeable compared to the fact that even the streetlights on his street were off for the hour,” Johnson said. He also added how ironic it was that Nashville was one of the “official” U.S. cities of “Earth Day.”

    For Both complete articles from the Washington Examiner:
    http://tinyurl.com/co9sot
    and Hot Air:
    http://tinyurl.com/dyj3l5

    • I’mFedUp

      Al Gore is a creep. Period. Belle Meade is a gorgeous section of Nashville with homes the size of China. If he really believes his own meme he can move into something smaller, solar and get over himself. He’s a con man. Get it? Thanks for this.