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Last updated on May 20th, 2017 at 10:14 am
“We have to start somewhere,” writes illumination activist Jay Currie. “I am starting with keeping my lights on at 8PM March 29. All of them.”
Yes! Also celebrating Saturday night’s Hour of Power are Jason Soon and Tim Bennett, who emails:
In honour of Earth Hour, my friends and I will be hosting the first annual Carbon Party. To mark this solemn occasion, we will be running the space heaters and air conditioning simultaneously, while putting loads of clothing through the dryer and turning all the incandescent lights on. Dinner will be grain-fed beef cooked over a wood fire (none of that clean LPG barbecue gas), served with imported vegetables shipped in from overseas (whether or not they can be found at the local farmers’ market). Bog rolls for the evening will be of softest five-ply tissue paper.
That’s the spirit! Evil Pundit suggests an investment in 5000 watts of earth-destroying lighthouse bulb, but you can easily join in the fun using common household appliances, as Samantha Burns – “Earth Hour stupidity, and all it represents, must end” – explains:
Possible items you may want to switch ON:
-all household lights
-air conditioner
-heater
-automobiles (your ride)
-automobile headlights
-washer
-dryer
-dishwasher
-stove/oven
-put on oven’s self-cleaning cycle
-microwave
-any/all kitchen appliances
-television
-dvd player
-game system
-stereo
And don’t forget computers, which you may use to track the SMH’s hilarious Earth Hour trickery. Compared to the Hour of Power, that other hour is an absolute crock of dark:
Instead of cooking a soufflé, choke down a couple of raw beaten egg whites.
No, no, no! There’ll be no encouragement of death during the Hour of Power, an officially life-affirming event. And, unlike certain other hours, there is no hint of sparky coercion:
Since Malaysians aren’t gonna voluntarily switch off their lights, how about if they’re forced to go without electricity just for that one hour between 2000 and 2100?
How about if you’re forced to shut the hell up? Already indicating support for the Hour of Power are Habib, bovious, DrewB, Huck Foley, Dave S., John Enright, eeniemeenie, Irobot, Mike Laz, Hong Kong, Pogria, SwinishCapitalist, wronwright, MarkL, Jeff S., The Leadster, Tungsten Monk, rinardman, satisfiedmind16 and ProWomanProLife. They’ll join billions of others worldwide whose lights will be on at 8pm on the 29th (all lit houses are considered to be Hour of Power participants). By contrast, Earth Hour is practically friendless:
As of 1pm 26.03.08 only 2 people from Apollo Bay have signed up to Earth Hour.
Hour of Power updates to follow. Commence photographic preparations – Saturday night will be an all-in festival of light.
UPDATE. The Age’s Catherine Deveny seems almost on the verge of joining our sacred hour:
Is it just me or does anyone else wonder why they’re busting their balls to make a piss-weak contribution to saving the environment … ?
Don’t worry, I’m going to keep doing it, and so should you, but it does shit me at times because it seems so futile.
She’s sure giving that mirror of hers a workout lately. Sensitive Andrew must be aghast.
UPDATE II. Some Byron Bay residents have no choice but to observe Earth Hour:
“We will be turning off the lights in the 35 units which we manage at Byron Central Apartments for the hour. We will be advising our holiday makers that this will be happening.”
Nice of them. (Via Raffi)
Reader kcom dubbed it “Enlightenment Hour”.
I’ve marked it on my calendar.
Posted by Spiny Norman on 2008 03 25 at 01:02 PM • permalink
Every appliance I own will be on.
And I’ll be vacuuming the house while wearing a fur stole.
and nothing else
Posted by Mr. Bingley on 2008 03 25 at 01:09 PM • permalink
Probably a bit more information than we needed, Mr. Bingley.
:^þ
Posted by Spiny Norman on 2008 03 25 at 01:15 PM • permalink
JAFA, they always damage the wood floors.
I hate that.
Posted by Mr. Bingley on 2008 03 25 at 01:49 PM • permalink
I am sitting in my van with the motor running and I am smoking a big Cuban cigar. (they are legal in the people’s demented Trudearupean Canada)
If the Leftists ever get control of the West the that lights will go out are those of freedom and enterprise.
This very day there is a hearing in progress to put an end to our “Human Rights Commission” that has be using gestapo tactics to entrap those who have a different opinion about the issues of the day.
I will spare you the boring details of what led to this sad Star Chamber that operates outside of the law to persecute free speech, but suffice to say it is all part of the taking down of freedom in the West and handing over to the modern day communists/environmentalists.
Google Canada’s CHRC
The Check out ezralevant.com and be afraid, be very afraid.
Has any one pointed out that once this Earth hour is over, all these hippies will be flipping their compact fluorescent lights back on. Fluorescent lights use more current at start up than during normal operation. The electric plant will need to spin up more generators to compensate for the sudden current drain during that first 5-10 minutes after Earth hour ends. Worse, it is possible that the electric plant will most likely not shut down generators during the hour because it costs money to spin down a generator just to start it back up within an hour (assuming coal and methane fired generators, nuclear is another story).
So, what these hippies may accomplish is causing generators to spin idly for nearly an hour and then a sudden drain on the electric grid in an orgy of fluorescent light and electric motor (assuming these twits have ceiling fans, which they must since we’re all told how much more efficient fans are than A/C) starts. All this while burning candles which produce a hell of a lot more carbon than is produced by the share of electricity from a coal fired power plant used by a typical incandescent lamp.
Ignorance is awesome.
I will definitely have all of my electrical appliances on during this crock, hell i might even warm up the electric welder as well.
Posted by surfmaster on 2008 03 25 at 02:22 PM • permalink
I like a brazen display of irony. I think I’ll decorate my house in Christmas lights, spelling out
SUPPORT
EARTH
HOUR
Then I’ll flip on the lights at 8 pm. Maybe I’ll make them flashing.
If any neighbors * ask if I support Earth Hour, I’ll point to my light display and say “Of course”.
——————————-
* note that none will ask since in Ohio we’ve never even heard of Earth Hour. Yet I would take that to indicate 100% in support of Tim’s effort for 100% illumination. 100%—not even Saddam got that kind of support.
Posted by wronwright on 2008 03 25 at 02:31 PM • permalink
Alas, due to a scheduling conflict, I can’t fire up my gennie that night.
However, I will be driving to a town 50 miles away to take part in an emergency drill, running radios and computers, visiting some friends, and buying groceries.
When I get home, though, I’ll flip on every light, and other electrical appliances (I gots lots!!!!).
And on Sunday, I’ll do some make up work:
I plan on roasting a leg of lamb….from Australia.
The generator will be cranked up. Because I can.
Clothes will be washed and dried. In small loads!
My carbon footprint will be enormous. O, frabjous day!
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2008 03 25 at 02:39 PM • permalink
I’ll participate! Assuming, that is, I’m able to pay my electric bill—and haven’t been evicted. If that turns out to be the case, I’ll get in my car, rev the engine, and turn my flashlight on. It’s the least I can do.
Posted by Andrea Harris, Administrator on 2008 03 25 at 03:07 PM • permalink
Count me in! It’s my son-in-law’s birthday, and if they’re back in town from their spring break camping trip, we’ll all go out to dinner (in separate vehicles, since there are more of them than there are of us), while leaving every light in the house on, and maybe both TVs too. The computer will be on, of course, because once it’s on, it doesn’t get turned off until we go to bed anyway. I’ll have a couple of nice reds, while the guys and the daughter fill up on beer, and we’ll all have a substantial methane-inducing dinner.
It’s not much, considering, but it’s our heartfelt contribution.
- Too funny. I am picturing Greenie heads exploding with self righteous rage as they read this thread. Don’t be hating, bro!
Unfortunately I will not be able to participate on the 29th. On the other hand, I will be leaving a big fat carbon footprint in the sky, as I am flying down to Florida that day.
i, of course, will do my part. all the televisions on, all the lights on, the computer on, and of course all the radios. it will be a fine evening to run the dishwasher, and the washing machines, leaving the windows open for the fresh air, and crank up the heat. since candles emit a lot of co2, i will have to light all the candles in the house as well. and hey, since i need to shred some confidential documents, i think i will just burn them in the fireplace. i guess i will need to cook as well. have i left anything out?
When planning your hour of power festivities, be sure and include activities that will upset the World Wildlife Foundation – since they are the ones we have to blame for this nonsense. I’m planning on mounting twin searchlights in my back yard – some deforestation and burning will be necessary to make the space. These will be used to compensate for any decreased energy output from my fellow Calgarians, while blinding migratory waterfowl. Any unfortunate birds crashing due to my meddling will be summarily barbecued and served up extra smokey.
I’m going down to my local appliance outlet and open all the refrigerator doors.
I shall keep them open at gunpoint!
Posted by Bill Spencer on 2008 03 25 at 04:14 PM • permalink
In NSW they could easily drop the power consumption and win major browning (greening) points. Just make sure Earth Day corresponds with a maintenance shutdown of the Cadia mine. That badboy uses about 80 Megawatts of juice on a bad day.
They might have a bit of trouble convincing Newcrest to forgo the several million dollars in lost revenue though……
Ahhh forget that – get everyone to fart into a bag and send it in to a central collection agency, these farts can then be liquified and stored into a long term facitiliy forever. I nominate Paul Keating’s fridge as being just the right environment for such emmissions.
How easy is this Earthhour thing eh? Next challenge please!
Thunderdome-style carbon footprint: Face the space heater and the air conditioner to each other. Switch both on. See which wins.
Two go in. One comes out. Drink beer while cheering for your favorite.
Posted by Ernst Blofeld on 2008 03 25 at 04:39 PM • permalink
I’m just going to set all the houses that have their lights out on Saturday night, on fire. Win-win. They no longer have to worry about their personal carbon footprint long-term, and we can blame them for destroying the environment with their wilful destruction of the ozone by having a flammable house.
I’m not seeing a flaw in this plan.
Is this 8pm in Sydney, or 8pm in your particular corner of the globe?
I mean, that’d be about 2am in Houston, Texas. I’ll probably be awake though so the lights will definitely be on.
Posted by Patrick Chester on 2008 03 25 at 05:12 PM • permalink
Put me down for the Hour of Power. It is too late for them to use my idea to improve Earth Hour and besides, I don’t live in Sydney.
We did turn on every light in the house last year and all the outside spotlight too. No one noticed because no one in my town was a Dim.
My response to this global group hug to make us whitey’s feel better is to simply ignore it and continue my lifestyle in pure indulgent ignorance. That makes me a default hour of power member, but so be it. While I will not purposely waste electricity, I will tip my hat to those in the trenches, fighting the good fight.
In short, I’m completely ignoring this cause celebre.
And don’t they HATE that!
Go your hardware shop and purchase one of those portable 2000 watt (or more) hand held spotlights (Chinese manufacture) and turn it on pointing skywards. I will find one in Halls Creek and attempt to be a shining lighting on the planet (instead of one of those dopey, lefty, tailights on the hill that we have in Australia).
Well, I was going to rely on a slightly busted rotator cuff as my excuse for not having taken down my Christmas lights (yet), but since I would have seized on the Hour of Power as the best of reasons for putting them back up anyway, seems like I’m sitting pretty, right? So, that’s the house lights, yard lights, decos, all the appliances the cats can reasonably be relied upon not to kill themselves in/with, and … oh hell, yes, the attic fans! It’s gonna be 42º, get those babies crankin’!
You can’t beat the Promethean Aurora Carbon Oculatron when it comes to doin’ the Earth Power Glowboogaloo! And why not celebrate your light show by firing up a Pinar Alfonso Corona Oscuro?
Every last appliance capable of generating the slightest amount of illumination, from the outdoor flood lamp to the “ON” lights on my abandoned stereo, shall be switched on, contributing to the torture-murder of the Earth Mother. My home shall shine as a light in the semi-darkness, so that all may see, and disbelieve.
Note: Your before picture remember to keep the shutter at 1000th of a second to make it look really dark, in your night time photograph. Then, during Earth Hour, keep your shutter open as long as you can, let’s say 20 seconds to make it as bright as possible. Keep a torch handy and shine it brightly on your subject.
I know it’s the way around, but it will look incredibly good and it’s a bright idea.
Other tips: car lights on.
Lights will be on. Highway flares will be lit. With any luck there will be photographs.
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2008 03 25 at 08:23 PM • permalink
I am about to say something that pains me more than the death of a loved one or a heavily backed horse running second. I have found a… Beer to boycott.
Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2008 03 25 at 08:25 PM • permalink
#49 – All right, I’ll drink it, but only while watching tyre fires. Bastards.
Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2008 03 25 at 08:38 PM • permalink
I wish to go on record now as clearly stating that I will have nothing to do with the string of massive and suspicious fires that will break out at various coal stockpiles at power stations in New South Wales on saturday night.
I hope the offenders will be brought to justice for recklessly causing the release of gigantic pointless carbon emmissions.
- Bugger I will be at work, the best I can manage is to run the air con with the door open.
Im sure the boy will do me proud by running the plasma screen in one room (unwatched), while sitting on the computer in the other room with the TV running. Its earth day everyday in moleville.Posted by thefrollickingmole on 2008 03 25 at 09:21 PM • permalink
For shame you decadent Western types!
I’ll be sacrificing at least one hour of electricity on March 29. I think I can survive that! I’ll make out just fine by burning some old car tyres in the backyard. That way I can cook dinner and have a source of light at the same time, and, I’ll be recycling and everything!!! See how easy it is. I’ll be killing two birds with one stone, so to speak, and if my unfortunate history with fire is anything to go by, probably a whole lot of other things too. Oh well, it can’t be helped, it’s for the good of the environment.
Being ‘green’ is a cinch, and fun too!!
Ahhh… what to do. As my neighbors here in Seoul will have as much appreciation of Earth Hour as Kim Jong Il has of liberty, something quiet and non-threatening, such as another floor heating vs. aircon deathmatch, is in order.
#48: Now that saddens me. I will have to redouble my efforts in bothering your local embassy chaps to bring Coopers in by diplo pouch for their bi-monthly pissups (yes, they have Cascade already).
And the idea of beer being green–that’s funny as fermentation, the conversion of sugars to CO2 and alcohol, could hardly be more carbon intensvie. But hey, buy a few of Algore’s carbon credits and problem solved.
Posted by Tommy Shanks on 2008 03 25 at 10:02 PM • permalink
Maybe someone here can write some lyrics for them?
To start off try “Whiny Flappy People”.
I jumped to comments straight off, so if this has been said already, ignore it.
Why can’t we ring up one of the people in the shuttle or space station( not sure if this is geosynchronous or not), and ask them to run before and after shots of greenie rich environments, you know, see how serious they are.
The Wilkins Ice Shelf in the Antarctic has developed a huge crack (which made a huge noise and that’s why the climate scientists sitting around watching it looked at it), and they’re concerned it’s going to fall off…
Bugger me, don’t they know about calving calving?
The fool interivewed said it was dramatic proof that global warming/climate change that thing was happening…
- What happens if Energy Australia arranges power outages? We may have a Earth Day.
How many candles will be needed then?
Of course no after Earth Hour dinners.Posted by stackja1945 on 2008 03 25 at 10:19 PM • permalink
#64: [Sorry for more O/T] They are just NOW getting around to putting out an anti-Bush album? That train has left the station.
Posted by Tommy Shanks on 2008 03 25 at 10:19 PM • permalink
Maybe someone here can write some lyrics for them?
To start off try “Whiny Flappy People”.
Where’s lyle? He could mock them better than anyone else.
Posted by Spiny Norman on 2008 03 25 at 10:41 PM • permalink
- I’ll be leaving every possible light/appliance etc running at full bore.
While racking my brains thinking of further ways to fry Gaia, I realised I wanted to make a gesture of near Biblical proportions.Something guaranteed to effect maximum Firepower on the very air that we breathe.I have started to prepare the biggest, meanest, most unholy cauldron of Chilli and Beans!
I will slow cook it today with a bucket of onions and half a bucket of garlic, the requisite beef and chillies and a tub full of the biggest beans I have in my larder. After curing over the next three days, we will wolf it down for lunch on Saturday with a pan full of huevos fried in goose fat.
At precisely 8 pm, the boys and I will bend over and fire at will, Methane Missiles that are guaranteed to choke the air better than a herd of the finest Black Angus.
Sad to say that no matter how hard I try to release carbon into the atmosphere, I am only one person. Can I really make a difference?
This feeling of helplessness is only compounded, when compared to the work being done by experts.
Posted by Margos Maid on 2008 03 25 at 10:44 PM • permalink
I will be sending large amounts of sweet-smelling carbon into the sky from BBQing dead animals as well as watching Top Gear on SBS (which ironically is heavily promoting Earth Hour) on three TVs.
Posted by Art Vandelay on 2008 03 25 at 10:48 PM • permalink
Enlightenment hour, that’s good. I’ll probably be somewhere else and the host probably won’t want me to burn their money, so I’ll take my Christmas hat with flashing lights and wear that.
Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2008 03 25 at 10:53 PM • permalink
I might also run on the spot to produce more personal CO2; maybe sporting a T-shirt reading CARBON TAX ON JOGGERS
Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2008 03 25 at 10:54 PM • permalink
I’m just ignoring it. It worked for the women that couldn’t find the beef.
Posted by Old school on 2008 03 25 at 11:01 PM • permalink
I liked someone’s suggestion somewhere to not go “Earth Hour,” but do it for a week to know really what life’s like without modern amenities. (Short and harsh I hear.)
And no candles unless they were delivered on foot straight from the (wild) beehive.
Sheesh. Earth hour. Hokey. Luddites, prove thyselves! Live and work in streets full of manure. Or move into that Outback preserve proposed hereabouts, just for you (and pay for the priveledge).
I’ll not be burning lights sans purpose, as coal-fired ‘trons are pricey around here just now. But I’ll illustrate briefly with a purpose my winter lighting that helps me remove snow in the dead of early morning (so I can go to work in my internal combustion Nissan).
Prolly burn some LPG in the grill (barby) in honor. Martinsville, Virginia, USA short track NASCAR racing this weekend– thousands of gallons of premium gasoline to be burned, not to mention the haulers and their diesels. I will consume such entertainment via satellite TV. I’m gonna do my part.
Tim, such 8pm your time is about midnight my time (I think) I’m afraid I won’t be able to participate thanks to being asleep. I will, fortunately, be able to use some energy thanks to getting to use a cpap in order to get enough oxygen while I sleep. I also sometimes have the radio on for soothing background noise. (KGB, a classical rock station.) Can’t have the volume too high, otherwise it defeats it’s purpose.
Hope everybody has a chance to expend mega BTUs of energy. Remember, only you can fight global cooling.
Posted by mythusmage on 2008 03 26 at 12:07 AM • permalink
Andrew Bolt refers to Catherine Deveny
piss-weak contribution when most of the world continue to turn environmental vandalism into an extreme sport?
and finishs up
But we can cut our own apples.
Posted by stackja1945 on 2008 03 26 at 12:17 AM • permalink
“When you don’t know what to do, do anything.” The third last sentence of the deveny diatribe….What a punchline! What a typical “progressive” attitude! What a personal philosophy! What a testament to the death of the Age of Reason!!!
Just change the verb…. for ‘do’ insert ‘write’
Sums ‘em all up, really
Huge chunk of Antarctic ice shelf collapses and scientists are putting it down to global warming.
Posted by stackja1945 on 2008 03 26 at 12:49 AM • permalink
I thought up another wheeze while having a rather pleasant lunch at a riverside Japanese restaurant (no whale unfortunately, but I’d say if you walked in wearing a Greenpeace t-shirt they’d slip some fugu liver into your miso soup)- why not kill two, or a few more endangered ones if they veer into the flightpath, birds with one stone so to speak- the horror of anthropogenic greenhouse gas release conbined with aquatic mammal-suffocating plastic bags? Get a cylinder of hydrogen (I know helium is man-made and thus evil but it’s inert and only good for making you sound like Julia Gillard with her head safely encased in a polluting plastic bag), and as big a supply of disposable shopping bags as you can muster; fill the bags from the tank and tie off. Release to freedom, and for a spectacular mini-Hindenburg recreation, tie off the bags with string soaked in lighter fluid- light the string prior to release, or if you live somewhere that isn’t run by intrusive nanny-state busybodies and safety nazis, fire at the released bags with very flares, rockets or incendiary rounds. Any hits will result in a spectacular burst of flame, releasing anthropogenic water vapour (a real greenhouse nasty) and whatever toxic fumes the bag adds. Real mirth can be achieved if the floating bag drifts into a Spotted Owl colony before ignition, or flaming debris descends on a cluster of candle-clutching cretins concerned about CO2, and sets their filthy, oil-rich dreadlocks afire.
I reckon this has more potential for fun than winning the lottery in a brewery that houses a Thai barber shop.
From Deveny’s screed: “People are arrogant. We just think: “The earth won’t fry us. She loves us. We’re humans, we’re the best.” The earth doesn’t care. It’s just an organism with no heart and no favourites. It just heats up and cools down to cope with its conditions. To the earth we’re just insects and if we fry, we fry. She doesn’t give a rats. Humans are the new dinosaurs”
Um, Catherine, the Earth is a planet not an organism. Also the Earth’s surface heat is determined by factors such as Solar Radiation and the Greenhouse effect i.e. external factors, not the Earth changing it’s internal heat levels in response to conditions.
How did that paragraph pass an editor?
Re update: 35 units in Byron Bay? Glad they haven’t boycotted capitalism.
Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2008 03 26 at 01:15 AM • permalink
I repeat. Anyone who suffers an injury or loss, any injury or loss at all, as a result of some clown turning off lights in aid of this rot should sue those responsible to a standstill.
If someone goes arse over head in one of these Byron Bay holiday units in the hour of darkness, sue.
If someone spills the bong water in the mull bowl while sitting around in one fo these Byron Bay units singing kumbyar in the hour of darkness, sue.
Re update II: hope some clients are lawyers and sue their arses off.
THE IPCC: ON THE RUN AT LAST
c/- Bolta
Hey Pickles, I’d have thought that management cutting power to units would be a breach of contract, or at least a breach of the lease terms, and also quite possibly a breach of OH&S regulations and duty of care, all of which would be actionable. I wonder if they’ve got any vacancies- I could do with a bit of a tickle, and Byron property owners tend to have deep pockets (but I’d rather not know what’s in them).
At 35kg overweight, Catherine Deveny uses more energy for almost everything she does. She eats more (more energy needed to fill her stomach), it takes more energy to heat or cool her, her extra weight increases load on engines and thus the use of energy, and so on and so forth. I’m sure someone could work out how much extra CO2 she uses by being overweight (probably about the same as 100k air travel per year), but the message is that she could save a small village in Bangladesh from flooding by simply reducing her carb intake. Earth to Catherine: stop feeding your face!
Of course, if I was a RWDB I’d tell her to eat as much as she likes…
“We will be turning off the lights in the 35 units which we manage at Byron Central Apartments for the hour. We will be advising our holiday makers that this will be happening.”
Oh man, I’d love to see the look on those idiots’ faces if the tourists brought their own generator truck.
Posted by Mr Hackenbacker on 2008 03 26 at 01:45 AM • permalink
Habib, I think you would be right, something about having “the right to quiet enjoyment” or somesuch.
I do think that the threat of no lights might be resolved by negotiation prior to the event, rather than litigation after.
Something like: “Hey hippy if you turn my lights off I will go you with a knife” might work.
“I’m sorry I shat in the bed, but in the darkness I could not find the bathroom. Sorry about your cat, too. Nothing to do with the darkness, just doing my bit for the native wildlife.”
Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2008 03 26 at 01:55 AM • permalink
#70 & 90; Hi kae, I enjoyed your pithy post on the myth of the moderate moslem; as to calving and the Wilkins ice-shelf event; ‘our abc’have been delirious about this; hopefully the reality will filter through the msm over the next few days that this is a thermohaline induced shear of ocean-floating ice which has occured because of increased cold, snow and ice-packing resulting in an increased ice-weight; the heaviour ice is typically less flexible to the underlying ocean dynamics and typically shears in this neat fashion so, not due to global warming, but bloody global cooling.
What this Hour of Power program is missing is transparency and accountability. Sure, you lot say you’re going to max out the wattage for an hour, but how do we punters know you didn’t switch off after, say, 53 minutes.
Or maybe you plan to use less power from 9.00-11.00pm to make up for your extravagance? That’s just the sort of cheap trick a closet-Earther would pull.
I demand time-stamped photos of electricity meters! And PRIZES!
You can count me and the Missus in on this Festival of Lights.
It’s our anniversary, you see. My back is feeling better, the little one’s at Gran’s for the night.
All the lights, among other things, will be turned on…
(oh, and cohenite, no photo proof will be supplied)
Posted by MentalFloss on 2008 03 26 at 03:39 AM • permalink
Hmmm. I guess I’d better rebel by joining in the fight (kinda like the way goths rebel by wearing white face paint and lanky black hair and boring black sacks).
I’ve got work in town in the early evening so I won’t be home, so I’ll do what I usually do – fire up the pc at 6.30am and leave it on all day whether I’m there or not.
I’ll just make sure the heating and the lights are all left on, too.
Posted by Nilknarf Arbed on 2008 03 26 at 04:34 AM • permalink
Well, I’ve got 3 Lightforce hunting spots I can plug into the 240v and shine down the street. They usually illuminate the pigs and foxes at 400m pretty well.
Plus I’ll be boiling a few kettles for a nice hot cuppa or 10. And microwaving my dinner (after running it on defrost for 20 mins) while blow-waving my hair and putting a load of clothes thru the dryer because it might rain.
It might be time to cut up the dishwasher so it can fit into the skip bin too. That needs an angle grinder for sure.
Well, this is what I can offer.
Can’t necessarily do it at 8pm on a Saturday night as I’ll most likely already be out. But, I shall devote one hour, perhaps more, to having the floor heating and the AC on full, with the computer, TV and stereo blasting. I’ll also turn the hot water in the shower on (don’t worry, Korea actually builds dams). I’ll light a few candles, too, to make it a little more romantic as I’ll be at my girl’s apartment on Saturday. We’ll cook dinner together. A stew of some kind I’m thinking as then we can have the gas range on for the entire hour, if not more as it simmers away. Don’t worry, the windows will be open.
As for right now, the window at my place is open but it got a little nippy sitting here in shorts and a T-shirt so I’ve turned the floor heating on so that I don’t have to put on trakky dacks or a sweater… or close the window.
BTW, instead of taking a 15 minute walk home today, I caught a taxi. Spent the day turning the classroom heater on quite hot then either compensating by opening the doors and/or switching it to the AC.
And I’m buying a car in a couple of weeks.
Every light will be on, every electrical orifice plugged and turned on, The Angels will be on the stereo, which will itself be turned up to ‘11’ and the kids have been allowed to stay up and watch the event – provided they run out into the yard every couple of minutes or so and activate the motion-sensing floodlights lights on the garage. All together now: “Teach, your children well, their father’s help, is hard to come by…”
Fortress Apparatchik will be a beacon of South Korean amidst the North Korean Socialist workers’ paradise of my neighbourhood.
Posted by Apparatchik on 2008 03 26 at 06:14 AM • permalink
“We will be turning off the lights in the 35 units which we manage at Byron Central Apartments for the hour. We will be advising our holiday makers that this will be happening.”
Here is just a sample of the misspellings at the website of the Byron Central Apartments. A sure sign of the quality of the accommodation.
anomolies
super markets
practiciioners
Acapuncturists
naturapaths
coutries
minstrals
byron bay
recepticals
hawaian
ethopiaPosted by The Mongrel on 2008 03 26 at 08:08 AM • permalink
How absolutely wonderful! I have some great floodlights, so I will be there in solidarity. It’s for, um, raising awareness; isn’t that what you call it?
Posted by Dame Penelope on 2008 03 26 at 08:57 AM • permalink
I’m glad Catherine recognizes the futility of the effort, however, I’d make the case that it’s not so much futile as pathetic.
A futile effort would be to do something useful, but just impossible to do nearly enough of it, such as using buckets to empty water from the Titanic. Sure, you need to get water off the ship, but you’ll never be able to get rid of it all. That’s futile.
A pathetic effort is to do something completely inappropriate, such as rearranging deck chairs in hopes of changing the balance of the ship. It does nothing to address the problem at all.
Of course, I completely disagree that the ship is sinking at all, heretic that I am. But if it is sinking, you won’t save it by changing the time of day that you use your energy.
“We will be turning off the lights in the 35 units which we manage at Byron Central Apartments for the hour. We will be advising our holiday makers that this will be happening.”
High price for no choice, I’d say.
Change of holiday plans. Byron Central anywhere else.
Posted by Deborah Leigh on 2008 03 26 at 11:48 AM • permalink
I claim credit for early action.
I spent this Easter at the Gold Coast in a rented apartment. On one occasion I returned from the beach to find that my wife had the air conditioning operating fully with the balcony door open. To my casual remark about this fact, the off hand reply was, “Oh, yes”.
Well, needless to say the door remained open with the air conditioner running for the rest of the afternoon.
Now I think this is an excellent approach for the hour of power and I’ll be adopting this practice on the 29th.
Hey, we made junkscience today.
Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2008 03 26 at 06:28 PM • permalink
#121 Olrence, At a guess, I’d say “Action, Lights, Camera!”
Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2008 03 26 at 06:30 PM • permalink
Sorry if someone’s already said something along these lines.
Since Malaysians aren’t gonna voluntarily switch off their lights, how about if they’re forced to go without electricity just for that one hour between 2000 and 2100?
Let’s go further north:
Since North Koreans aren’t gonna voluntarily switch off their lights, how about if they’re forced to go without electricity just for that one century between 2000 and 2100?
Andrea, Paco, wronwright, someone more awake than I—what time will that be in Jax?
I have a lovely pork roast that I could put on the grill…with plenty of fruit from third world countries & bread baked in an oven while I run the AC. With the windows open, of course.
I don’t wake when my husband goes to work at 3am, I certainly ain’t getting up to do this in the middle of the night. But I’ll take a raincheck!
I don’t think it is meant to be the same time everywhere, but at the same hour in your part of the world on Saturday – ie 29 March 8pm.
cheers
#65- Terribly sorry Old Fruit, but Kommodore Kev has ordered ordered all wicks be extinguished during this homage to the Prince of Darkness, excepting of course his entourage and RAAF-supplied crew and platform* for his 18 day Embarassathon around the world. Hopefully the Chicoms won’t decide that the omens look rather 有先見之明的 for another Long March down the Bruce Highway on Saturday night.
*Ibelieve 36 Sqn had to hand over a C17 for the trip rather than the more traditional BBJ when the Great Navigator announced he was bringing the missus. Not a total waste of money either- if it can handle this exercise, an M1A1 will be a doddle.
The University of Newcastle Staff Newsletter has just come around, and, sure enough, the lead story is about turning our lights off on Saturday night so that
you can join millions of
others across Australia in sending a powerful global message that it
is possible to take action on climate change.Sorry, not me. I’ll be the one with every light blazing as I watch imported (air mail) DVDs while shovelling down a meal of good red meat. Count me amongst the enlightened!
- It’s said that mushrooms are fed shit, and thrive in the dark.
Well, I’m no bloody mushroom and I ain’t goin’ to do either. Hang the expense, I’m goin’ to be flickin’ quite a few switches.
As for these GW/CC nutters? Well the lights went out for them a long time ago.
I’m with Bolta on this one – a denialist and damn proud of it.
134- The theory of antropomorphic global warming may deny a few laws of physics, but it’s got nothing on the sort of avoidance of natural law involved in getting Therse Rein’s arse through the cargo door of a 737, let alone defying gravity with a couple of mere P&W CFM56s to get that mass off the deck defies consideration.
Seriously, it was a gag, but under the guidelines of loadmaster safety margins I would’ve thought a Globemaster would be the bare minimum to lift the mass of the (wax)munchkin’s missus. Unless of course they give here a helium enema prior to take-off, and leave her to float about the cabin during flight.
I can’t abide waste, so I will just be charging all of my rechargable batteries simultaneously. Two laptops, three drills, several flashlights and a drawer full of AAs.
And maybe vacuum the carpet. Should be quite a show–I’ll send pics.