Earth Hour: Did it raise your awareness?

:humble: Yay for Hyo!

DH just read a quote from an article to me... you can save 20% of your electric bill by unplugging electronics (we use a surge bar and turn it off) when not in use. Sunday's Doonesbury was good, too.... how many little LEDs do YOU have in your house at night?

 

We recently started doing this too. A Kill-a-Watt will quickly show you what you're wasting when devices are "off".

 

F8L, You know that I'm trying to have an open mind especially after various personal messages sent to each other.

 

This may come as a shock to you, but I look out for Number One: me. I don't have to "prove" anything except how well my various investments are doing (They're just splendid, thanks for asking)

I was raised in the True Conservative sense, not the fake Conservatives we have now who encourage everybody to jump off Credit Cliff like a bunch of lemmings.

I suggest you read The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America's Wealthy. I actually have this book, purchased for $1.25 at a book faire fundraising drive. The following Wikipedia entry on the subject is accurate

The Millionaire Next Door - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I was already well on the way to being a PAW before I purchased the book. So reading through it was deja vu. I practise frugality to an almost painful level. For example, I regularly browse through Thrift Stores, the staff usually know me on a first name basis

Why should I buy a new tee or new jeans just to work in the yard, or change the oil in one of my vehicles? Do I care what the neighbors think about me being so skimpy? Nope

You are correct in that Earth Hour was nothing more than a PR scheme. It was designed to make the Sheeple feel somewhat better about their appetite for energy and consumer goods. Like a fat guy who eats 4 cheeseburgers and fries, then orders a diet cola to watch his calories

We'd all use far less resources if we lived as The Millionaire Next Door suggests. Save for the future, no more Bling, no more credit for trendy pricey crap, no more buying a new vehicle to impress the neighbors, who quite frankly don't give a s*** anyway

Oh, and I actually *approve* of all the SUV's and crew cab pickups being used for personal transportation in the US. Really, I do. The Canadian economy has really surged thanks to the energy sector demand, and that alone has boosted my retirement portfolio almost 32%

 

Believe me I'm cutting way back on expenses. I don't own a house but a manufactured home. I have not purchased any new clothes in the last year expect some new socks. I try to spend as little at the grocery store just enough to get me by.

I sit here right now in my bedroom with the computer on and 1 lamp. The rest of my house is dark.

I agree that Earth Hour is not enough to raise awareness. You example of the guy ordering two cholesterol burgers and then decides to order a diet coke was good.

 

I like meaningless gestures and symbolic acts (for example, I love those click-to-donate sites).

I like the idea behind Earth Hour, but alas, my city tried and failed big time.

There was a big event scheduled in the park. They didn't shut off any of the lights in the park. Even though it was brightly lit, people still held their candles.

Um, the manufacturing of those unneeded candles costs energy (not to mention the burning adds a wee bit of air pollution), as well as those plastic cups they used to protect the flame from the wind (plastic cups which will, of course, wind up in the landfill). Empty gestures are one thing - counter-productive missing-the-point-of-the-exercise acts really annoy me, though.

 

Heard about it on local news, after the event...

 

That's odd, in some ways you're as frugal as I am. What I can't figure out is if it's on purpose (I'm a cheap bastard at heart, and proud of it too), or by necessity

Curing the energy problem in the US isn't necessarily calling for everybody to rush out and buy a Prius. But a great many who drive those full size pickup and SUV's could easily get by with a Civic, Corolla, or god help them, an Aveo

I'm all for "impossible" engineering challenges, like meeting tough emissions requirements. The web site you reference is a bit odd though. A lot of pickup and SUV's that are sold in MN are also sold in CA, and are capable of meeting California emissions

In many cases, there are efficiencies to be gained just by a careful review of the design. When gasoline was under $2 a gallon, there was little incentive to do so. Now with gasoline trending towards $4 and even $5 a gallon, we have more incentive to look for those efficencies

I suggest you take a trip to the EU, and see if you can find a huge number of pickup trucks or giant SUV's. High fuel prices have been a reality in the EU for a long time now, so folks adapt

Adaptation is what separates us 2 legged animals from the rest of the animals. In theory anyway, we are capable of a great deal of inventive thought process, and adaptation.

 

That is very inaccurate. In fact it would be interesting to see how long we last in geologic time compared to many other organisms due to our lack of adaptation. So far our time on this planet has been VERY short.

 

Sorry, that was poorly worded on my part. I meant to say that humans have the ability to control/change our environment, we have a language that is fungible (Can be translated to other languages, can be saved), that we can work with tools (By "tools" not only do I mean physical tools, but the application of mathematical tools)

So "adaptation" was a poor choice of word. Not much experience dealing with the "touchy feely" world. I prefer math

What I find ironic about us as a species is that we can easily recognise a course of action that is logical, sane, beneficial, etc. Yet for some perverse reason, we chose to usually do precisely the opposite.

As far as climate change, it will probably happen no matter what we do. That said, there are steps we can take to minimise the impact.

With most food crops, global warming would be a disaster. Global cooling would also be a disaster. So we should be working together to figure out alternatives. Expecting everybody to just get along, work together, is a fantasy though

 

Nope...didn't find out about it until after the fact.

I'll return to my cave now.

 

I was just giving you crap Jayman. Generally your replies are accurate enough. As much as I would like to disagree with this post I feel it is fairly accurate as well, especially if we judge humans from past civilizations.

 

Awwwwww you're a meany. Gonna take a lot of heavy drinking to erase that.

BTW have you noticed that a lot of math professors are real slushes? I mean, they just about have a 24x7 buzz, and if you light a match anywhere near them WHOOSH the alcohol fumes ignite

I'm beginning to think something about the 4 years of college calculus turned me into a heavy drinker ....

 

There was an Earth Hour????

 

Or they are serious tweeks! I used to have a Programing instructor who was pretty normal then after a car flew into the wall of our classroom (only a couple of us were hurt) he started coming to class hammered and reeking of drink. lol

 

Yep, sounds like the math prof I had in college. Maybe they're related

 

i was on my laptop at the time, so no.