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Peter Guercio - My Blog
Peter Guercio - My Blog
Earth Hour
Related to country: Australia

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Earth Hour is a useless idea. Australia brags of it's 10.2 percent reduction in the city's greenhouse gas emissions for the hour. The fact that people are proud of polluting a little less for one hour is startling. The other 8,765 hours a year the whole of man kind melts away the atmosphere, dump their garbage as they see fit, and kill animals. It could be seen as a step forward even though turning on and of a whole city of electricity ends up using more energy than would have been consumed in the hour. Even though it is about awareness, 'I'm turning out my lights for an hour' says 'keep me in the dark' not 'switch to alternative sources of fuel and conserve energy'.

March 28, 2008 | 8:23 AM Comments  6 comments

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bobaffett Casey Clark
March 28, 2008 | 9:24 AM
Tower Of Power
You do prove a good point, but australia is making larger steps than any other country towards cleaner energy. There is a plan in place to build a "tower of Power" which is a large solar power plant that can power hundreds of thousands of homes without poluting.

you can read more here
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2006/08/01/8382232/index.htm
daianepp Daiane SC
March 28, 2008 | 10:48 AM
Earth hour
Hi Peter!

I will turn the lights off during the Earth Hour, but I think you have a point...How much energy was spent advertising the earth hour, for example? In Toronto we're going to have a concert for the earth hour - how much energy is spent in a concert?
But I still think this is much more for the visibility of the cause - and not for the energy saved in one single hour.
Regards,
Daiane
AnnieD123 Andrea D'Eramo
March 30, 2008 | 11:18 PM
Ahead of the Game
All of you make good points, however, I believe that Earth Hour is a good idea. Even if it is just for ONE hour, the fact that people reduced the emissions by 10.2% for that hour is amazing. Obviously, there must have been many people in Australia who did not participate or follow through with anything to lessen their carbon footprint during the hour, but it certainly did raise awareness, seeing as we're responding to this.
Australians are way ahead of the game in the alternative energy department, for example, they give away compact fluorescent light bulbs for free at local supermarkets, here in America, if we want to reduce our emissions and use less electricity we must buy these light bulbs. So clearly Australia is doing much more for in an effort to raise awareness and counteract the effects of global warming.
Another idea that 'earth hour' may bring about in an ordinary person's home is that they might realize that they didn't NEED to turn that light on for that hour. And making the conscious decision to turn it off helps them (with their bill) and the environment in the long run.
I think that earth hour is/was a great idea and I think that it's great that Australia is so far ahead of the game in conserving energy.
erivera Elena Rivera
March 31, 2008 | 5:04 PM
Earth Hour is a stepping stool
Hi Peter,
I think that you make some really great points here, but I have to disagree with your overall argument. As Casey Clark pointed out, Australia is working to lower their use of energy more than any other country. Earth Hour is simply an opportunity to raise awareness - true, the idea may be a bit far-fetched, but I believe that the overall goal was achieved; it wasn't, as you suggested, just a time when people kept themselves in the dark, but a learning experience. The Earth Hour website claimed: "On March 29th, people everywhere turned off their lights–to make a statement, to help find new ways to reduce their impact on the environment, and to start a movement that ends with a solution to the common challenge we all face." Clearly, this event served as a major statement, as well as a reminder of sorts; Earth Hour wasn't about making a difference within a day, but rather about inspiring this generation to reduce our use of energy and find alternate resources.

Spanko Masha T
April 2, 2008 | 11:23 AM
Earth Hour can help makes moves towards reducing polution
Hey Peter,
I think you made a good point that Earth hour is only for an hour so it won't make much of an effect, but i think that it could actually start a worldwide trend. According to BBC, 27 other cities are going to follow suite in having an 'Earth Hour'. In some major cities, that could be very helpful even if only for an hour. Even though it’s only a small reduction of pollution, every little bit of pollution that is reduced counts towards stopping global warming. One example of a huge reduction was in Bangkok, where 45.8 tons of carbon dioxide emissions were stopped. In Australia, the total percent of pollution cut during the hour was about 10%. This is helpful even though it is a small amount. And now, "big cities like Chicago and Sydney that are doing it," says Andy Ridley. This new trend could really be helpful in maybe starting an Earth Day, or something like that that could eventually lead to a great reduction in emissions all over the world.
thekidthatcares thekidthatcares
April 3, 2008 | 7:13 PM
Yeah right
Elena I regret to inform you that Earth Hour will not raise awareness for global warming. Despite the fact that a thirty second tidbit about Earth Hour was shown on fox news in between stories about the whereabouts of britney spears and the wonderful deeds of george bush the event went widely unnoticed. Besides raising awareness, Earth Hour served no practical purposes for the world. As I said, turning on an off a whole city of lights uses more energy than leaving the lights on for an hour. When BBC says 27 cities worldwide will be turning off their lights, they mean sydney, australia will turn off their lights along with one hippy trying to live the 'good old days' in each of the other 26 cities. I enjoy the fact that I'm use energy on my computer now because, realistically speaking, we're all fucked(exuse my language) anyway. The world's two most populated nations, china and india) are going through an industrial evolution. The way I see it you can do either of two things: shut off your lights and sit alone in the dark or come chill with me, eat a whale burger and watch a big screen tv in my coal heated house.
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