Hi all,

On Saturday, March 29, 2008 at 8pm (local time wherever you are) a lot of cities and businesses around the world will turn ALL lights off for 1 hour. Aka all appliances will be turned off, and the CBD's will be plunged into darkness (I think street lights will be kept on though).

* Aalborg
* Aarhus
* Adelaide
* Atlanta
* Bangkok
* Brisbane
* Canberra
* Chicago
* Christchurch
* Copenhagen
* Dublin
* Manila
* Melbourne
* Montreal
* Odense
* Ottawa
* Perth
* Phoenix
* San Francisco
* Suva and Lautoka
* Sydney
* Tel Aviv
* Toronto
* Vancouver

This is meant to be a 'smart' solution to greenhouse gases and spreading awareness, however one must consider what this really will achieve.

1. Why just 1 hour on 1 day a YEAR? That is 1 hour less than the 8760 hours a year we use lights. What difference will this REALLY make?
2. Imagine the massive power surge there will be at 9pm on the 29th of March in each respective city?
3. Why are we focusing on lights? Why not have a whole day where we try not to use our cars, but use Public Transport instead (which could be made free for all on that day). That would make more of a difference surely than turning the lights off for just 1 hour.

I highly doubt Earth Hour will actually do anything at all to stop Global Warming. What I think we should do is actually be serious about this and do proper things to help the environment:

1. Public Transport should be the top priority in the transport departments for all governments. Stop all this pointless NIMBYism and spend the money NOW so that we don't end up with a world full of cities like LA with constant gridlock and bad pollution. And no, buses are not the answer (although in the shortterm it will help). Instead, we could spend the money on train systems powered by solar power (with solar panels on the roof) and also connected to the public power system in the chance that the train runs out of solar power and needs to use the main town power supply.

2. It should be made MANDATORY for ALL new homes built to have at least one (1) solar power panel on the roof, and then this panel should be connected to the homes power supply. If some people get a lot of solar power, but don't use it all, then they should be encouraged to put that power back into the main town supply and get credited for it. I am sure the technology is there, we just need to use it.

3. We should get away from petrol powered cars. Why not use solar power instead, with a solar panel on the roof? And, if the car uses up all its solar power and can't recharge (eg at night) then it should have a power point for recharging. And the electricity used for this should be green power, not power from power plants that pollute the environment.

I am sure we all can think of more options, these are just a few. But, IT CAN BE DONE! If we all rally our governments for action, then we can actually do something about our planet and save it from pollution. And political stunts like Earth Hour seriously are not the answer, just because it was trialled in Sydney in 2007 doesn't mean it is effective in stopping global warming.

A200

 

 

 

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What I want to know is why people are trying to stop global warming? Are they trying to save their precious cities? I mean, c'mon, be realistic. The Earth has been in a constant state of change ever since it was forged in space. All global warming is just another change. Mankind are such a self centered bunch if you think about it....we (mankind) honestly believe that we are destroying an entire planet. All I have to say to that is "lolwut?" Seriously, the earth will warm up regardless of what we do. I mean, even if we are effecting it, it isn't by much in either direction. People are just scared by that video by the crack head known as Al Gore. It probably won't be as bad as he said. And if it is, guess what? You get screwed and that's just a few less humans on this planet....because lets face it, there's way too many of us....this place is way over populated. If only we could build housing on golf courses and deserts....that would really cut down over population....gah, getting side tracked (again). Basically this panet we call home will change regardless of what we do. All we need to do is learn how to adapt to it....and I'm sure that if we do get flooded, that we'll have a much more comfortable place to live in....and hey, maybe it'll be so warm that we could walk around naked....I mean, hey, that'd be cool.

 

 

 

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I doubt that you say is correct in any way! The Earth will warm up regardless of global warming but we are speeding up the process, it's like saying...

My cat will die anyway so why don't I just kill it now? That is like global warming...

They should NOT have called it global warming... Warm sounds warming, soft, and comfortable but in reality even if the Earth's Mean temperature rises by half a degree Antarctica will melt enough so that the Earth will flood in tragic flooding, if you've watched "The Day after tomorrow" you'd know what I mean...

The thermohaline conveyor will be permanently damaged and because of all that fresh water in the ocean many salt water fish will die out because there isn't enough salt in sea water.

Not to mention the thousands, possibly millions of year old relic stones that may hold hibernating bacteria/virus. If the temperature rises enough to release those viruses/bacteria we won't have any protection against them.

We always need to over-estimate the enemy, we say it might bring down brimstone, giant apocalyptic events, but it might only bring controlled flooding... All the money wasted on preparing? NOT WASTED! We must do whatever we can to save the planet!

Remember that saying? "If humans die out, the Earth will heal, if Ants die out, the Earth will die with them"

And about the population issue... If we carry on like this in about 1000 years? Earth should look something like Coruscant, in about 10,000 Years? Earth should look like Holy Terra. By then it would have been too late, almost every species will have been wiped out and the Earth sustained by highly advanced synthetic methods...

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