Earth Hour god

[cubcadet]

How many of y`all even turned off 1 light bulb in homage to the Earth Hour god?

http://www.motherearthnews.com/natural-home-living/lights-out-earth-hour-is-tomorrow-at-830-pm.aspx

[JarDude]

How many of y`all even turned off 1 light bulb in homage to the Earth Hour god?

I turned all of mine ON. :)

[LoiDreams]

What's an Earth Hour god?

LoiDreams

[farmerj]

big event staged by the World Wildlife Fund

http://www.worldwildlife.org/sites/earthhour/index.html?gclid=CMy9h6rU7qcCFZFoKgodNyFIcQ

[cubcadet]

What's an Earth Hour god?

LoiDreams

Earth Hour is just one more attempt to mold public opinion by getting us to do something to symbolically protest western civilization.

[12vman]

Some of us shut 'um off a long time ago so we ain't got no electric bill... ;)

[cubcadet]

Good point, I hear ya 12.

[MollyPitcher]

I heard something about 'earth hour' a couple of weeks ago, but didn't know what date it was. Not that it would have mattered to me. I live pretty darn frugally, and I'm not going to be browbeaten by environazis. I don't leave lights on anyway, out of economic necessity; however, I'm not going to impose some misguided token gesture on myself in order to try to assuage a nonexistant guilt about the meager resources that I DO use.

In other words, they can bite themselves.

[Quietgentleman]

In other words, they can bite themselves.

Ah lassy you do have a way with words

QGM

[cubcadet]

I heard something about 'earth hour' a couple of weeks ago, but didn't know what date it was. Not that it would have mattered to me. I live pretty darn frugally, and I'm not going to be browbeaten by environazis. I don't leave lights on anyway, out of economic necessity; however, I'm not going to impose some misguided token gesture on myself in order to try to assuage a nonexistant guilt about the meager resources that I DO use.

In other words, they can bite themselves.

Very healthy attitude, love it!

[Dame]

Anyone making a big deal of earth hour is likely using way to many resources the rest of the year.

[TEX]

Wasn't a problem at our house as we were sound asleep by then - early to bed and early to rise.lol

[simplegirl]

We actually did do this at home. I know you guys must think I am an idiot but my take on it is just to be more aware of the resources we use. Not too much to ask for us to take an hour to talk about saving some energy. We have used a little more electricity than I would like in the last few months so I think it just brought that aspect more to the front of our minds.

[farmerj]

Personally, it's something we do every month when we get the power bill.
"What can we do to make this month less than the past month a year ago?"

So why make it a one hour special, once a year

[MollyPitcher]

I agree. I think it was a year or two ago, the first time I'd ever heard of the earth hour event, and a relative made a big deal out of participating. But I have to wonder if the whole point of it is missed by people who participate, and then the next day it's back to business as usual, not being careful with electric and other fuel usage, but still feeling they've done their part to help the world in some manner and never making any permanent changes? Kind of like non-religious folks who celebrate Christmas. Trot it out once a year to feel good, then pack it away till next year and go back to their normal routine without much thought of how to apply the teachings ever day of their lives, instead of just one day a year.

Don't get me wrong, I think folks should use however much power they want. They're paying for it, and it's still (mostly) a free country. Speaking for myself, I'm too cheap to take unnecessary money out of my pocket to give to the utility companies, so I'm careful with my power usage. Even a few bucks that I don't have to give to TXU is a few bucks I can spend on myself.

[cubcadet]

Personally, it's something we do every month when we get the power bill.
"What can we do to make this month less than the past month a year ago?"

So why make it a one hour special, once a year

I like that one farmer, sounds like a good philosophy. I ain`t into doing something in response to media prompting. THEY are after much more than our best interest.

[NCLee]

We actually did do this at home. I know you guys must think I am an idiot but my take on it is just to be more aware of the resources we use. Not too much to ask for us to take an hour to talk about saving some energy. We have used a little more electricity than I would like in the last few months so I think it just brought that aspect more to the front of our minds.

Welcome Simplegirl!

First, none of us think you're an idiot. One of the principles around here is self-reliance and independance. That means both not expecting others to provide for our well being and being free to do as we as we wish on our own homesteads. That includes what you do on yours.

And there's absolutely nothing wrong with being a good steward with what the Lord has provided for us. Doesn't matter if it's leaving enough of a wild foraged food for the next season or becoming more aware of reasonably conserving energy resources.

The problem comes in when the Al Gore "gods" preach conservation and don't practice what they preach in their personal lives. Last I heard people were wondering just how huge his carbon footprint in around his mansion. How much jet fuel he uses to go somewhere and tell others to save energy. And further how he's going to profit from his material investments in the "clean" energy industry. Don't ever forget the saying "follow the money" before accepting at face value what someone else is promoting. Al Gore is just one example of many in this regard.

IMHO, it's good that this helped you to become a little more aware. Not only from the stand point of conserving resources, but also from the standpoint of being dependent on electricity. Making a goal of being less dependent and more self-reliant is a worthy one. Being an old timer, I remember when electricity was a convenience, not a necessity, for day to day living.

More awareness will help you to better prepare to treat it as a "convenience" if/when the need to do so ever arrives. Whether from an ice storm or something much worse.

Again, welcome.

Lee

[offgridbob]

SimpleGirl, you did the right thing and a lot of us did this a long time ago before it was even called going green. In my case it was keep your electric bill down so you could afford to eat that month, then it just became a habit. When they first came up with going green I found out it's very exspensive to do all the way. I turned my bedroom light off right after I kissed my wife goodnight.

[Prairie]

Ah, Earth Hour. I remember that night. I flicked every switch in the house on but nothing happened. Oops, forgot. I told the power company to go and love themselves back in November. Personally, I think that Earth Hour is too insignificant to do anything except maybe remind people that we are using too many resources unnecessarily. To me every day is Earth day. I live on the land and of the land. The local power here is generated by burning vast amounts of coal, and I have come to realize this past winter that I don't really need it. As for Earth Day itself, and the WWF, I don't really know much about them. Are they enviro-nazis? Some groups like PETA and Greenpeace go overboard with their activism, some just like to bring attention to things, and as I stated, I don't know where WWF stands. As for people who turn on every light in their house, or even rent Hollywood style searchlights to run for the hour (Canadian Conservatives go all out), what is the point? No matter what your political leaning are, how can you be against responsible uses of our resources? (No, Gore is NOT a responsible user!)

Speaking of environmentalists, I have a copy of Joe Jenkins' "Humanure Handbook" that I am going to give to the local Green Party candidate to read and when she is done, I will ask her how green it is to defecate in 5 gallons of clean filtered treated water. :D She has been busy since our government collapsed a few weeks ago, but after the election, it will be in her hands. When she is done, I will give it to a local NDPer to peruse. I have a feeling that he will be more receptive to the idea. (He is already a huge gardener and composter.)