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Earth Hour


ali

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Anyone taking part in this global event? We'll decided to eat by candlelight outside tomorrow and have all the lights off in the house. Kids were ok with it after looking at the TV guide to see what they'll miss lol

 

Ali

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Guest Sunsh1ne

Hi Ali

 

We were in Sydney last year for this - it was amazing to see everyone's lights go off and stay off for the hour. I haven't heard anything about it mentioned in the UK - yours is the first - didn't even know it was happening !

 

What date and time is it ?

 

Sunsh1ne

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HI ALI .... I HAVE NEVER HEARD OF THIS EITHER !!! SOUNDS LIKE A GOOD IDEA .... MIND YOU I THING WE DONE OUR BIT LAST WEEK WHEN WE HAD A 3HR POWER CUT .... ITS AMAZING HOW YOU RELY ON PC AND TELLY FOR COMPANY :biglaugh:

MRS KEILY

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Guest jonny.co@tiscali.co.uk

Hi Ali.

what a good idea. i would join you,but all the neighbours in our street would finally think ive lost the plot,or we have been cut off lol. everyone should be involved. we didnt even know about it. enjoy.

nicxx:cute::jiggy:

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Guest leanneandmark

I dont know if many places are doin it in uk!! On the net it didn't list any uk areas!! All major Aus cities though!!

Typical isnt it

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Guest afiyafifi

We did this in liverpool last year .........it was great the whole city was in darkness , it was great looking at the sky line with all its twinkiling lights then it goes in to total darkness it was really amazing .... not heard about it happening this year .......... karen

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Guest YellowGecko

I have just noticed google.com is in darkness because of this Earth Hour thingymajiggy.

 

Does anyone know whether all the street lighting will be out, too? (Car thieves and opportunists at the ready).

It would be cool if they were out, though, so I can star gaze.

 

Jo x

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Guest John Sydney

 

 

Sorry to be a Kill Joy from the

 

Australian Newspaper

 

The power of a broken idea

 

 

AE3.gif pageid=1

 

 

 

 

 

Jack the Insider Blog | March 27, 2008 | 109 Comments

 

A CHUNK of the Wilkins Ice Shelf the size of Singapore snapped off from continental Antarctica and headed north this week.

But don’t worry this portent of planetary Armageddon is about to redressed. The balance will be restored due to the mystical, magical ways of Earth Hour.

On Saturday night, cities around Australia will turn off the lights for an hour, sparing us all from the nightmare of global warming.

This hour of earthly penance first started in Sydney last year. The organisers claimed that 2.2 million Sydneysiders flicked the switches to the ‘off’ position and stoically sat in the gloom for the greater good on 31 March 2007.

It was a good effort but as the hole in the map where the Wilkins Ice Shelf once was shows us, more needs to be done.

That’s why Earth Hour has gone global.

Well, not exactly. The good people at Earth Hour are happy to create the impression that the entire planet has risen as one to atone for the sins of the past.

In reality, the most populace cities on earth; Shanghai, Seoul, Sao Paolo, Mumbai, Tokyo, Cairo and New York have stubbornly refused to play along. But heroically, the slack has more than been taken up by Dublin, Christchurch, Suva, Copenhagen and sixteen or so other cities from thirteen nations.

So we can rest easy now, right?

Not quite. The University of Chicago’s David Solomon did a statistical analysis of energy consumption during Sydney’s 2007 voluntary darkening. He found that energy consumption dropped by just 2.1 per cent (not the 10.2 per cent claimed by Earth Hour’s organisers).

Still, it’s two per cent. Better than nothing.

Not really. Solomon described the drop in energy consumption on the inaugural Earth Hour was “statistically indistinguishable from zero.”

Furthermore, the great myth being perpetuated by Earth Hour is that individual consumption of energy can somehow make a difference on a global scale.

Again Solomon pricks Earth Hour’s happy face balloon. “(There are) some currently debated policies that seek to reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by 60% by 2050. The Earth Hour experiment suggests quite strongly that small changes in individual lifestyle are unlikely to have a significant effect in achieving these goals.”

Put another way, if 2.2 million people sitting in the darkness for an hour reduces the city’s energy consumption by just two per cent in the same period, we may still have a way to go before the global warming dragon is slain.

All right. So Earth Hour is not about practical solutions to climate change. Despite the fact that Earth Hour’s organisers have exaggerated the data on energy saved during last year’s hour of non-power, the emphasis in this year’s gloomfest is on the power of the idea; awareness heightening, the notion that a symbolic act can lead to real change.

It sounds just like an advertising campaign, doesn’t it? That’s because it is. And ultimately, that’s all it is.

The Earth Hour brand is jointly owned and promoted by the World Wildlife Fund, Fairfax Media and the advertising agency, Leo Burnett Worldwide.

You may remember another one of Leo Burnett’s memorable advertising icons: the Marlboro Man. Now, that was a powerful idea. So powerful in fact, that several million consumers lit up with a Marlboro for the very first time.

The World Wildlife Fund too, strikes a chord in the deep recesses of a consciousness, constantly bombarded by media; not least of all because a former President of the esteemed organisation, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh had a nasty habit of shooting and killing small, furry critters.

The WWF has also been the recipient of some largesse from such environmentally aware corporations as Exxon and Philip Morris.

And then there’s Fairfax Media; an Australian company with diminishing newspaper sales and declining revenues. Earth Hour is a powerful idea for a media organisation keen to establish its environmental credentials while heightening awareness that it is a cuddly, lovable company in the hope of a few more sales at the end of the day.

So don’t expect me to be sitting in darkness on Saturday night. I won’t be madly burning fossil fuels with every light and appliance switched on either, as some Earth Hour protestors have advocated.

I always find solace in that old axiom: ignore them and they will go away.

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IIt would be cool if they were out, though, so I can star gaze.

 

Jo x

 

Star Gazing is one of my favourite things here - I have never been so facinated, they seem so much closer and brighter here with the clear sky.

 

John it may very well be an advertising gimmick - but it's making alot more people think about global warming etc.,

Ali

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Guest YellowGecko

Know exactly what you mean, Ali. Going to sound geeky now, but we have a telescope, as we are both into amateur astronomy, and I have never ever seen such clear skies at night time, as I have seen during my time here in Oz. The sky at night (unless overcast!) is amazing! Such clarity!

 

Jo x

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Aww Giz ... they do say it's the thought that counts. We did it, can't believe that the kids actually spent an hour chatting to each other without arguing - although the last 10 mins they did keep saying "what's the time" lol

 

Ali xx

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we did it too albeit 10mins late cause i forgot and then ran around the house like a woman possesd to turn everything off,lol,,was a bit dissapointed that most of our neighbours where still lit up though ,and the street lights did stay on(the 2 we have,lol)

Cal x

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Guest Guest9973

We joined in as well,pretty much all of the area's houses were in darkness.

 

We just had a candle lit.:smile:

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