This is one of the official Earth Hour videos for this year.\u00a0 Here is the Earth Hour website.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Earth Hour is next week, March 27th.\u00a0 Last year I didn’t think much of this event and I still don’t, but this year I’m going to turn my lights off and take my dog for a walk, (which I do every night anyway) during Earth Hour\u00a0 — and see how many lights are on.\u00a0 I might even take a few photos of a dark street, which shouldn’t be too hard to find.\u00a0 My city is in debt, like a lot of U.S. cities, and they are turning off street lights to save money. \u00a0 I can actually see the stars at night in some neighborhoods. \u00a0 Light pollution is down because of the bad economy.\u00a0 That’s good, but the reason for it isn’t.\u00a0\u00a0 I also see, from the official site, that Wells Fargo Bank is a “featured corporate partner” in Earth Hour.\u00a0 There is a Wells Fargo Bank on my walking route and they leave most of their lights on all night, lighting up the entire block. \u00a0 I will report right here whether they turned off all of their lights or not.* \u00a0 (Want to make any bets?)<\/p>\n
Turning off lights for one hour is great, but it’s not going to stop global warming.\u00a0 The purpose of the event is to raise awareness.\u00a0 The official website writes:<\/p>\n
The movement symbolizes that by working together, each of us can make a positive impact in this fight, protecting our future and that of future generations. <\/p>\n
Overall, there can be some unintentional messages with events like this.\u00a0\u00a0 Turning lights off for one hour while coal plants are belching out toxic pollution and smog settles over our cities for another evening\u00a0 seems pretty lightweight to me. \u00a0 I hope no ones gets the idea that turning off their\u00a0 lights for one hour is where it stops.\u00a0 Earth Hour should involve some sort of climate action like shutting down a coal plant for an hour.\u00a0 Civil disobedience (as advocated by James Hansen and Al Gore) should probably be a part of any real future Earth Hours, because we are running out of time to stop global warming.\u00a0\u00a0 Or,\u00a0 Earth Hour should spur people to action in whatever way they can contribute, but it should be a way of life, something that people do all the time, even if it’s just talking to people about climate change.\u00a0 There is a big lack of knowledge in the U.S. about what climate change is.\u00a0 Everyone, no matter who you are, can help to change that.<\/p>\n
In addition, driving around to get photos to upload, and then turning on computers all over the world to upload these photos uses energy.\u00a0 Probably more than what would be used if this event wasn’t going on. In other words, what is the carbon footprint of this event?\u00a0 (We will never know, because no one is measuring it.)<\/p>\n
After Earth Hour is over, [...]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This is one of the official Earth Hour videos for this year.\u00a0 Here is the Earth Hour website. Earth Hour is next week, March 27th.\u00a0 Last year I didn’t think much of this event and I still don’t, but this … Continue reading