Lights Out 2009

Sheril,
The images you have posted about Earth Hour are deeply satisfying to me. We will keep trying to conserve as much as possible every day.
As a person who is fascinated by the night sky I really wish we could make it a priority to cut down on light pollution regularly.
I'm spoiled by living in a rural area with low population density and not much for business development. I feel sorry for people who don't get a chance to see stars or the Aurora Borealis.
I like the ending with a candle.
Cal

We had an earth hour party...lights out, clandles lit and a game of Taboo. It was beautiful and, as Cal said, "deeply satisfying."

Yesterday I attended a enviro-fair in Boston and Francis Moore Lappé gave a talk. She was mildly critical of this event, because she thought it was bad framing, if I understood correctly. We can't tell people they need to sit in the dark. We need to tell them about the democratic joys of local food production. Or something.

Sigh.

I feel like I'm being framed to death.

Even more effective is that as you turn off your lights, turn off your air conditioning too.

"Almost one kilowatt-hour of electricity out of every five consumed in the United States in a full year goes to cooling buildings. Much of the nation's excess power-generating capacity, which sits idle until needed to satisfy quick spikes in demand, has had to be built because of air-conditioning.

The electricity used annually to air-condition America's homes, stores, offices, factories, schools, churches, libraries, domed stadiums, hospitals, warehouses, prisons and other buildings (not including what's used to cool manufacturing processes and military facilities) exceeds the entire electricity consumption of the world's second and fourth most populous nations -- India and Indonesia -- combined."

http://www.alternet.org/story/37882/

- Also, did you know that air conditioning elects Republicans?

"Seats in the House of Representatives and electoral votes in presidential elections are re-allocated after each decade's census according to the relative populations of the states. In 1950, the 14 New England and Rust Belt states were apportioned 197 members in the House of Representatives, while the 13 Sun Belt states had only 96. Fifty years later, the northern states' membership had dwindled to 147, and that of the southern group had swelled to 132.

That net gain of 86 House seats by the Sun Belt over the more liberal group of northern states has had profound consequences. Of those northern states' current 175 seats in Congress (including both the House and Senate), 83 belong to Republicans, 90 to Democrats, and 2 to independents who vote mostly with the Democrats. The 13 Sun Belt states are represented by 106 Republicans and only 50 Democrats.

The effect of southbound migration on presidential politics has been even more dramatic. Each state gets as many votes in the Electoral College as it has votes in Congress. In 2004, the New England/Rust Belt states went 144-31 for Kerry (or 164-11 if you're not willing to concede Ohio's 20 votes to Bush), while the Sun Belt states went 156-0 for Bush.

Soon after the 2004 election, Hofstra University professor James Wiley wrote an op-ed titled "Blame air-conditioning for Kerry loss.""

http://www.alternet.org/story/38154/

Puhleeze....
Do you have any idea how much CO2 is emitted by a burning candel???

I recall someone suggesting that if Google permanently changed their background from white to black, it would reduce worldwide electricity usage by millions of kilowatt-hours a year.

Kevin,

This interested me, so I checked with google. According to their website:

As to why we don't do this permanently - it saves no energy; modern displays use the same amount of power regardless of what they display. However, you can do something to reduce the energy consumption of your home PC by joining the Climate Savers Computing Initiative.

Puhleeze....
Do you have any idea how much CO2 is emitted by a burning candel???

Posted by: bob koepp |

Bob,
I do know. How much CO2 is emitted by the energy to power 40 sixty-watt bulbs and a 500-watt yard light? We did not even light a candle. If we turn off the TV and the radio and all the lights while we stand at a window by the woodstove to watch a snow-covered dark landscape how much CO2 are we emitting? Of course we have a refrigerater and freezer still running.
We eat what we grow and hunt for. Tell me how much more CO2 is emitted by a candle versus a 60-watt bulb's energy production. Otherwise don't try to get self-righteous about lighting a candle.
Cal

Cal - I didn't even participate in the "hour of darkness," so I'm not laying claim to any mantle of righteousness. I like candles as much as the next aged hippy -- but they aren't exactly paradigms of energy efficiency.

Cal - I didn't even participate in the "hour of darkness," so I'm not laying claim to any mantle of righteousness. I like candles as much as the next aged hippy -- but they aren't exactly paradigms of energy efficiency.

Posted by: bob koepp

Bob,
I should refrain from responding, but I can't. Many candles are made from renewable sources. They are not energy efficient, but they are organic and many times locally produced.
Keeping bees has run in my family for more than a century. Making beeswax candles is good cheap entertainment.
Call me an aged hippy if you want. I enlisted in the Army during the Viet Nam conflict. What did you do?
Cal

The point is not whether candles, or at least some of them, are made from renewable resources. I was having some fun at the expense of certain bloggers who seem to me to be overly concerned about CO2 emissions.

During the dress rehearsal for our adventures in Iraq, I held my breath and hoped nobody asked to see my non-existent draft card. BTW, it was me that I referred to as an aged hippy.