Saturday, March 29, 2008

Earth Hour 2008 - Will It Matter?

Is turning off lights for one hour really going to get people to be more aware about conserving our resources? Is it really going to get people to sell their gas-guzzling SUVs?
Will people run out and buy energy-saving light bulbs? And even if we did all we could to conserve, is it going to be enough to stop climate changes? If these corporations were truly concerned about the Earth and its resources, wouldn't they turn off their lights all the time when buildings were not in use? Do away with the excessively large advertising signs? Start making cars that are more fuel efficient and start doing away with large vehicles? Turning off lights in a few cities for one hour is going to do what, exactly?

6 comments:

jhbowden said...

I'm turning all of my lights *on* between 8:00pm and 9:00pm, just to annoy the hippies.

Zombietime has great pictures from an appearance of the Goracle. My favorite ones are the images of the parking lot.

No one is stopping these guilty liberal yuppies from consuming *less*. Their mission is socialism and state control over the economy. (The Che gear didn't give it away?) Earth worship is only a pretext for the agenda, and nothing more.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Starry, definitely not you jason - lawdy!, about how is one friggin hour going to do any good?
Its rather silly.

Stardust said...

It's 8 p.m. and my whole damn neighborhood is dark. People who drive big SUVs, have big swimming pools, in ground sprinkler systems, five cars in the driveway, boats, wood-burning fireplaces, who have those backyard fire pits to burn more wood, have an ongoing contract with Chem Lawn. Then they turn their lights off for one hour and think they are doing something.

If asked to give up all those things I mentioned above, these people who turn off lights for one how would have a stinkin' cow.

Stardust said...

Jason, This is one area we pretty much agree on. I see by the link you provided all the cars similar to the ones in our neighborhood that I am referring to. The irony of seeing "stop global warming" on the back of a Cadillac Escalade is a pretty absurd picture..and hypocritical.

Tommykey said...

Yes, but did many of the attendees car pool in the SUVs?

That being said, we've gotten by on a Honda Civic DX that I bought nine years ago and a Buick Century I got from my mom after my dad died.

What really disgusts me are the Hummers. They are monstrosities, in addition to the gas they guzzle. Well, with the price of gas going up, they must have some really astronomical gas bills!

Stardust said...

Yes, those Hummers are huge gas guzzlers and should never have been made for domestic use. If we are in such an energy crisis as so many claim we are, then auto makers should have federal guidelines of how big cars should be and gas mileage requirements. Start doing away with big cars, or raise gasoline prices for gas hog vehicles. That will make people think twice about driving their Hummer's into work. Large vehicles should be for RV only, and delivery trucks, semis licensed to companies only.

And yes, my bet is that nearly every one of those vehicles at the energy conference drove separately in their gas guzzling vehicles. Driving down the expressways in downtown traffic just keep an eye out for those gas hogs who have "Save the Earth" bumper stickers who contain only the driver. Once you start looking, there are lots of them. The visual irony is everywhere.