http://www.earthhour.org/home/
This Saturday 28th March @ 20:30 You can vote Earth by switching OFF your lights for one hour - Earth Hour.

Too bad. I'll be out this evening and won't be back until the early hours. Tell you what, I'll do my bit and turn my lights out at 2am and switch 'em back on at 3am.

Spring time this weekend

Global Election

The Sydney skyline is darkened after many lights were turned off during Earth Hour



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Or, better still, when you leave the office in the evening, make sure everyone turns their computers off. That'll do a damn' sight more than this bit of pointless back-slapping nonsense.
"I turned a light off for an hour, I'm sooo green! Look at me! I'm GREEN"

Think I'll turn all mine on.

An update ( has a video too ) from the BBC:


Major cities and global landmarks have been plunged into darkness as millions of people switched off lights for an hour to protest against climate change.

The initiative, Earth Hour, was begun in Sydney two years ago by green campaigners keen to cut energy use.

Hours later, Beijing's most prominent Olympic venues, the Bird's Nest and Water Cube, went dark. China is taking part for the first time, with major cities like Hong Kong, Shanghai and Guangzhou also dimming their lights.

Other locations due to take part this time include Edinburgh Castle in Scotland, St Peter's Basilica in Rome, Paris' Eiffel Tower, the Egyptian Pyramids and New York's Empire State Building.

Fast-food giant MacDonald's has pledged to dim its "golden arches" at 500 locations.

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404 – punoɟ ʇou ɹoʇɐɹǝpoɯ

Darn, missed it. I'd've turned all my lights on. Use all the energy up, and the sooner we can return to the dark ages!

Though I'll miss denistry, even at Swiss prices.

Don't know about you, but I find self-congratulary self-righteousness "vote Earth" (presumably said while staring wide eyed at your left shoulder), rather vomitudinous.

Worry no longer - they had dentistry long before the dark ages:
http://archaeology.about.com/od/inve.../dentistry.htm

But not the drugs.

Why?

If you don't care about a symbolic act that occurred in over 74 countries ok, but do you really think anyone noticed what happened in your flat?

I did turn mine off as I was already dozing off. I guess saying "You snooze you lose" applies here

I don't really care if anyone noticed or not. In much the same way I don't care about what is ultimately a futile and meaningless gesture.

I missed an SMS from a friend of mine tooting on about switching lights off for an hour on Saturday evening so kind of missed the event but I had to smile at the irony of the person sending me the SMS who, under normal circumstances, has the television running all hours of the day and night and every available lightbulb burning in her house.

She probably feels like she has wiped the slate clean now.

Well then, I hope having all your lights on made you happy at least.

I thought the earth hour was a nice symbolic guesture showing that people still can come together for a common cause. I also worry (like Sandgrounder and Colonelboris) that people use this tiny action as an indulgence for any past and future actions.

I view the green movement (being an admitted tree-hugger for ~6 years now) as something people should be free to choose if conservation will save them money. I hate that now appearing to be green is the 'right' thing to do because celebrities said so, while cost and science are not always vigorously debated (e.g. sudden push for corn-based ethanol when it was known that switchgrass is a more efficient option with less effect on food supply).

Why on earth (no pun intended) should I turn my lights off, when there are whole neon fields chomping away at any saving my 3 x 40w low energy bulbs might make. The majority of tree hugging eco warriors types probably negated any benefit of this futile exercise by clogging the phone networks and internet with reminders to switch off a chuffing light.

I'm all for being green but please target the real energy wasters with things like this, and here's a clue it ain't your average Joe.

you're probably right that the average Joe doesn't waste that much energy, but the average Joe only has control over the average Joe. Just because other people are being wasteful prats doesn't give you a free pass. Americans everyday use how many litres of water? Says the eco conscious european. But the aussie living in a drought uses less. People without water, well F*** 'em.
I know people say water isnt wasted, it just goes back into the watre cycle, but do you have any idea how much it costs to treat water? i'd imagine the cost of treated water in the US that went down the drain would pay for water supply to a good number of developing nations.
Just because you can waste, and can afford to, isn't an excuse.
In my lasy job i used to go arround and turn all the PC's off at the end of the night, the company put up stickers saying people should turn stuff off; who do you think made more of a difference?

is it asda? every little counts

Exactly, me and people like me don't need some hippy type earth day to act resposibly. Corporations, and businesses are way more wasteful, so is not effective targeting a better use of resource... natural or otherwise.

I was in a fancy hotel bar in Asia on said day and true to style, the Maître'D came around informing us of the 'hour of darkness'. Hee Hee, thought everyone, and we all ordered Champagne.

Then the lights went out before they could light the candles... and guess what else went out (of the bar)?

Yay for Earth Day, confused service staff and free Champers

(They didn't turn the aircon off, though )

Priceless tale and I salute your fast thinking ingenuity, but being the honourable chap your are, I expect the bar tab saving was sent directly to Bill Odie and his beardy friends

Just had to smile at the holiday documents sent to us by a Swiss tour operator. The recycled paper luggage labels they enclosed have plastered all over them "Respekt vor der Umwelt". The luggage labels are going to be attached to luggage which is then going to be stowed in a ruddy great aeroplane stamping a ruddy great carbon footprint across Europe as it schlepps us tourists to our week in the sun.