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The Forum > Article Comments > Earth Hour - a waste of energy? > Comments

Earth Hour - a waste of energy? : Comments

By Bernie Masters, published 31/3/2009

Affluent societies have become shallow and insincere towards other people and the serious problems facing the world.

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I saw a photo promoting earth hour with the lights off and a candle burning.

Forgive my ignorance, but to make light from a candle we need a fuel, ignition and O2, this gets converted into heat, light, carbon and carbon dioxide and other gases.

So how can turning off electric lights and then burning a candle save on carbon dioxide. DUH!

A better move would be for those who support reducing carbon dioxide levels would be to put a plastic bag over their heads, to capture carbon dioxide. The next problem would be what to do with the carbon dioxide captured in those plastic bags?

Conversely they could filter the carbon dioxide through water and make carbonic acid.
Posted by JamesH, Tuesday, 31 March 2009 9:39:47 AM
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Some people pop into church for Christmas and Easter while some worship the earth for an hour each year. Nothing more needs to be said.
Posted by runner, Tuesday, 31 March 2009 10:15:16 AM
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Seems like even the High Priest of the Global Warming cult didn't really bother with Earth Hour, either:

http://politics.nashvillepost.com/2009/03/29/al-gore-will-leave-the-lights-on-for-ya/
Posted by Clownfish, Tuesday, 31 March 2009 10:29:40 AM
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“Earth Hour is a con, a fraudulent excuse to show we care while doing nothing useful to make a difference.”

You’ve got it Bernie.

I doubt that there are many people in this world that are more passionately concerned about big-picture environmentalism and sustainability issues than I am….and I was profoundly disgusted by the Earth Hour effort.

Such a token …and useless… exercise. In fact, worse than useless, because it no doubt made a lot of people feel good that they were contributing in a small way to the betterment of the environment, when they WEREN’T at all. They were effectively being told that they can continue just as per normal, and do a tiny little token effort every so often…and all will be just dandy!
Posted by Ludwig, Tuesday, 31 March 2009 12:07:45 PM
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Quite so, whether you agree that there is a problem of not, Earth hour was simply a symbolic gesture designed to give activists something to do and, not incidentally, make them look good. Whether it is a sound basis for policy, any policy, is another issue.
The author mentions recent awareness-raising on breast cancer. Of course more money should be spent on researching breat cancer. But why shouldn't we spend the money on, say, bowel cancer instead of breast cancer? How much should we spend on both? Which disease kills more people, and should we use a straight body-count as a basis for allocating funding? These sort of policy issues get lost in feel-good activist approach to issues..
Posted by Curmudgeon, Tuesday, 31 March 2009 1:13:36 PM
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Perhaps when all become equal we will do our best to stop climate change etc.
How many green areas have you noticed among houses in your area? very few.
How many green areas have you noticed in the grounds of all Government houses and other Government controlled places? all green

How many homes have changed to energy saving light bulbs? the public are doing their best.
How many Capital city buildings are changing? very few.

These are only two areas I have chosen, when we become equal I will then think of changing my attitude towards helping the enviroment
Posted by Ojnab, Tuesday, 31 March 2009 2:07:02 PM
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Duh, of course it's a feelgood exercise, but if it makes people
feel good, it serves a purpose.

In the third world they breed like rabbits, as we send them food
but not enough family planning, so there are another extra
80 million mouths to feed. The total Australian population, if
the lot of us died, would be replaced in 3 months!

Yes we like our computers, electricity etc. I doubt if even
Bob Brown will shut his down, in the name of global warming.

How many of our homes, even have such basics as solar hot water?

I've had mine for around 25 years now, but frankly most people
only care, as long as it does not cost them anything.

Nature will sort it out in the end. All those peddling to work
might be healthy and feel good, but their contribution does
not matter a zilch, apart from to themselves.

Sad but true.
Posted by Yabby, Tuesday, 31 March 2009 9:27:44 PM
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Earth hour, along with most other awareness programs are purely designed to give the impression of something being done, so as to take the mind of the people away from the reality of what the powers that be are actually doing, about the worlds growing negative situation.

The economic crisis suddenly appeared when the worlds people were very close to revolution, regarding climate and environmental change along with growing ecological collapse, which is destroying the food chain. Those important issues have been virtually buried, as people are forced to concentrate on day to day living standard survival, rather than the reality of ideological elitists fatal approach.

Proper education and legislative implementation, is the only way to get results. Most people are like sheep, they follow the biggest influence whether it is right or wrong. That's why promoters of anything, use emotive language and flashy advertising. Not only is earth hour a con job, but in reality, so is the economic collapse

The supposed eco friendly light globes are in fact very dangerous, have short life spans and save almost no power. If you want to save power, LED's and low voltage are the only thing which can do that. Doing something to change the direction of the planet and stop it from being unable to support human life, is a personal thing. If you need to be pushed into taking action, you never will.
Posted by stormbay, Wednesday, 1 April 2009 9:11:10 AM
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What a spiteful article. Of course Earth Hour is merely symbolic but is worthy of no less importance than wearing a pink ribbon for breast cancer, a yellow one for cot deaths, tragic bushfires or an early morning, “useless” attendance at rallies on Anzac Day.

Considering the thousands of men, women and children who die every year from diseases induced by the air pollution emitted by the burning of fossil fuels and the destructive forces of fossil fuel emissions on ecosystems (all scientifically proven), I have concluded that an annual Earth Hour is a timely reminder to we Australians that we have the ignominious title of being the largest emitters of CO2 per capita on the planet.

Participating in Earth Hour is not mandatory – what’s the problem – it’s still a free country. Therefore, feel free, if you must, to support the rancorous hostility the author displays towards those who disagree with his Neanderthal belief that fossil fuels are good for your health!

PS: Runner – there are plenty of people who pop into church every week who like to fiddle with little children. What’s your point? Pot vs kettle?
Posted by Protagoras, Wednesday, 1 April 2009 1:51:27 PM
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Posted by Protagoras,

PS: Runner – there are plenty of people who pop into church every week who like to fiddle with little children. What’s your point? Pot vs kettle?

There are also plenty of earth worshipers, environmentalist,doctors and people who don't pop into church every week who fiddle with little children. What is your point?
Posted by runner, Wednesday, 1 April 2009 2:53:58 PM
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Dear Runner

Most participants in Earth Hour worship the earth every day - not one hour a year as you claim.

As to the point, well it was I who asked the question, therefore, why don't you go first:?

"Some people pop into church for Christmas and Easter while some worship the earth for an hour each year. Nothing more needs to be said."
Posted by Protagoras, Wednesday, 1 April 2009 3:14:00 PM
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"Most participants in Earth Hour worship the earth every day"

A most revealing comment.
Posted by Clownfish, Thursday, 2 April 2009 12:20:27 PM
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I would sooner worship the earth, at least it is here, rather than worship 3000 odd different religions and a whole host of Gods that go with them.
Posted by Ojnab, Thursday, 2 April 2009 1:06:11 PM
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So you're admitting that environmentalism* has become a matter of religious devotion?

*I prefer to think of it as Gaiaism
Posted by Clownfish, Thursday, 2 April 2009 1:27:26 PM
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I have it on good authority that the electricity network controllers
had to hunt around for a load to make up the difference during earth hour. Hmmmm.
Posted by Bazz, Monday, 6 April 2009 5:10:18 PM
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