Earth Hour
Posted: 28 Mar 2008 19:14
Anyone ever heard of this? It's apparently some promotion to cease use of home electricity for one hour on March 29th. It's part of a plan originated in Australia to help the environment by lowering energy consumption and carbon emissions.
I have to say, this is probably the most optimistic global warming pitch I've ever heard. I'm running this Earth Hour through my head and really doubting the point/effectiveness of it.
I suppose psychologically it can be important to make people feel engaged or that they are helping. But wouldn't there be more tangible gain if people simply engaged in less polluting activities on a regular basis? I try to do my part to reduce waste with good habits like recycling, mass transit, water conservation, etc. Wouldn't that be far more effective than just turning off your light for one hour once a year?
And really, these habits are not for combating global warming, they are for pollution in general. I'm concerned that global warming by being so dubious in cause and yet so pervasive in the media is blinding people to the real issue, which is that we should be reducing our pollution. Scientists, pundits and politicians can debate global warming until they run out of breath, but no one is going to convince me dumping industrial runoff in my cities' river isn't harmful. That's really the point.
Anyway, perhaps there's more to this? Has anyone else heard of this Earth Hour and have another view?
I have to say, this is probably the most optimistic global warming pitch I've ever heard. I'm running this Earth Hour through my head and really doubting the point/effectiveness of it.
I suppose psychologically it can be important to make people feel engaged or that they are helping. But wouldn't there be more tangible gain if people simply engaged in less polluting activities on a regular basis? I try to do my part to reduce waste with good habits like recycling, mass transit, water conservation, etc. Wouldn't that be far more effective than just turning off your light for one hour once a year?
And really, these habits are not for combating global warming, they are for pollution in general. I'm concerned that global warming by being so dubious in cause and yet so pervasive in the media is blinding people to the real issue, which is that we should be reducing our pollution. Scientists, pundits and politicians can debate global warming until they run out of breath, but no one is going to convince me dumping industrial runoff in my cities' river isn't harmful. That's really the point.
Anyway, perhaps there's more to this? Has anyone else heard of this Earth Hour and have another view?