61 Replies to “Live From Earth Hour, 2011”

  1. I have all the lights on, the dishwasher running and I have two loads of laundry underway.

  2. I’ve got the cleanest oven in all of Ottawa, and the cleanestclothes too. And, in testing my lights, two bulbs (the traditional type, not the Suzuki Specials) burned out during the hour. I’m sure glad I did the test, otherwise these bulbs might have burnt out at an inconvenient time.

  3. You would think that with all the warming and climate change etc, that there wouldn’t be any snow on the ground in late March.
    No?

  4. In the Sun today:
    The whole mentality around Earth Hour demonizes electricity. I cannot do that, instead I celebrate it and all that it has provided for humanity. Earth Hour celebrates ignorance, poverty and backwardness. By repudiating the greatest engine of liberation it is nothing more than an hour devoted to anti-humanism.
    I abhor Earth Hour. Abundant, cheap electricity has been the greatest source of human liberation in the 20th century. Every material social advance in the 20th century depended on the proliferation of inexpensive and reliable electricity. Giving women the freedom to work outside the home depended on the availability of electrical appliances that free up time from domestic chores. Getting children out of menial labour and into schools depended on the same thing, as well as the ability to provide safe indoor lighting for reading. Development and provision of modern health care without electricity is absolutely impossible. The expansion of our food supply, and the promotion of hygiene and nutrition, depended on being able to irrigate fields, cook and refrigerate foods, and have a steady indoor supply of hot water. Most of the world’s poor suffer brutal environmental conditions in their own homes because of the necessity of cooking over indoor fires that burn twigs and dung. This causes local
    deforestation and the proliferation of smoke- and parasite-related lung diseases. Anyone who wants to see local conditions improve in the third world should realize the importance of access to cheap electricity from fossil-fuel based power generating stations. That’s how we developed.
    The whole mentality around Earth Hour demonizes electricity. I cannot do that, instead I celebrate it and all that it has provided for humanity. Earth Hour celebrates ignorance, poverty and backwardness. By repudiating the greatest engine of liberation it is nothing more than an hour devoted to anti-humanism. It invites people to become sanctimonious do-gooders by turning off trivial appliances for a trivial amount of time, in service of some ill-understood abstraction called “The Earth”, all the while hypocritically retaining the real benefits of electricity. People who want to do without electricity to prove their symbolic solidarity with nature should shut off their fridge, stove, microwave, computer, water heater, lights, TV and all other appliances for a month, not an hour. And pop down to the cardiac unit at the hospital and shut the power off there too.
    I don’t want to go back to nature. Haiti just went back to nature. For humans, living in “Nature” meant a short life span marked by violence, disease and ignorance. People who work to end poverty and disease are struggling against nature. I hope they believe in their own cause enough to leave their lights on…
    If, after all this, we are going to take the view that the remaining air emissions outweigh all the benefits of electricity, and therefore we ought to be shamed into sitting in darkness for an hour, like naughty children who have been caught doing something very bad, then we are setting up unspoiled nature as an absolute, transcendent ideal that obliterates all other ethical and humane obligations. No thanks. I like visiting nature but I don’t want to live there, and I refuse to accept the idea that civilization is something to be ashamed of.

  6. The temperature in my place went up 0.5°C during the hour with all the lights on. Now to open the windows to let the excess heat escape. Mission accomplished.

  7. I didn’t even know it was Earth Hour
    until it was over.
    I guess that is what happens
    when you don’t read newspapers or watch the CBC.

  8. The Green Police should take down the address of that heretic and report him to the nearest authorities.
    Maybe they can burn him at the stake.

  10. All the lights are on in my block as well. It’s nice to know that my neighbors aren’t buying into this BS.

  11. Crap!! I forgot all about it. Meant to emulate the house in the video. Sorry, folks.
    Does 2 televisions and 3 computers running count?

  13. Lights on, block heaters and water heaters going.
    Several electric heaters glowing red.
    Looks like spring run-off is going to be at least 3 weeks late this year, so I’m speeding things up by melting pots of snow on the stove.

  14. Well, you might not believe this, but I had full intentions of doing my part to disrupt this Earth Hour crapola.
    Matter of fact, extra lights and space heaters were employed. But that old Ma Gaia got me good! She really did!
    I had an issue with CBC’s coverage of tonight’s HNC broadcast, so I decided it was appropriate to email a complaint outlining my views.
    Now, I had a few things to say, so my submission was getting quite lengthy. Almost ready to submit, WTF?, lights out! I blew the friggin breaker! And with that, also everything on my computer. Lost it all!
    I’m now gonna go outside, take off all my clothes and cavort in the snow, and pray that Gaia sees fit to grant me continued existance.
    You’re one tough bag, but you win!

  15. Many African and middle eastern countries have ‘earth hours’ for hours on end everyday – perhaps environmentalists would be happier living over there and telling those people how to live their lives?

  16. I lost track and didn’t throw the switch until 09.01PM…..
    I only noticed 2 dark spots but my heavy duty industrial floods illuminated them even at 3/4km.
    I powered down at 10.01PM.
    I have an image to maintain…doncha know…
    I did this back a coupla years back and a cop showed up…said he had complaints. I referred them to my guest…..120lb of Dutch Shepherd…with no sensa humour….
    His supervisor then arrived…chewed out Dudley do-right and distributed dog cookies….
    I regret that the only workable policy is to regard these useful idiots and their lefty masters as our mortal enemies. It is more than obvious they intend to kill us…not just steal basketball hoops….

  17. Celebrating human achievement hour with all the lights on. Will fire up the electric broiler to cook a steak, use the electric clothes drier and have a few loads of laundry to do. Every light in the house is on as well as 7 computers all crunching seti@home data. Then there’s the 30 or so wall warts that provide power to various low wattage electronic devices. Still, the big power draw of the evening is going to be the workshop electric heater which runs off a 30 amp circuit and would be nice to have a warm shop. Can’t say I’ve noticed any change in the amount of lighting on my way home from the hospital tonight.

  20. a quick look outside here on my street and it appears nobody observed earth hour today. No surprise.

  23. Although I’m pretty much done with that flag, it’s good to see the folks lit up for the celebration have a couple of the old Canadian flags hung out to dry in front… 😉

  25. RosalindJ, Seems you can’t draw crowds without lights. Earth Hour isn’t bright marketing. Businesses don’t buy big illuminated signs just to spend money.

  26. The Vancouver Sun column excerpted by Yes to power at 10:10 pm was written by University of Guelph economics professor Ross McKitrick.

  27. I did my bit – I had the lights on at home and went over to the office and lit it up too while I got some material I need for the real world…
    I just didn’t want all the electricity generated to be wasted by not being used.

  28. I went for a pleasure drive, ostensibly to withdraw from an ATM. There is an ATM 500 yards away, but I opted to recruit a neighbor and took a one hour drive just for the helluva it. Naturally we stopped at the liquor store on the way home.
    Please understand that one of the greatest benefits of our civilization thus far is affordable freedom of movement. The war on cars (and general energy consumption) is an existential threat. We will not go quietly into the night.

  29. Absolutely no one on our crescent ‘went black’ this year, but three of us were fully lit to celebrate Human Achievement Hour, including full Xmas lights. I predict that next year they won’t even bother trying to promote this silliness.

  31. I had all my lights on including Christmas lights. Only a few houses were dark on my street this year, much less than last year. I expect people are tiring of this fad.

  32. Did not “waste” anything… Power bill is high enough.
    But the still up Christmas lights send a nice enough message to the people on the street.

  33. Kids have a lot fun with “Earth Hour.” Why waste their fun?? So what do you do on Xmas night? Phone kids up and tell them there’s no Santa! Not a lot of brains went into that video!

  34. I am really reluctant to go to bed tonight.
    Maybe I will try to sleep with all the lights on.

  35. Try googling earth hour or earth day fires if you really want to laugh/cringe. Candles are not the answer to saving the earth even if they don’t burn your house down. My absolute favorite are people who turn out their lights, go outside, and light up a bonfire. They are outdoing all of you mere electricity *beeps*!

  37. People actually think that in a world without all this nasty technology, they’ll all live like the Hobbits in the Shire.

  38. Every light was on in my place during Earth Hour (along with the television, radio, and iron), but across the street, two houses were lit by the glow of candlelight, and I could just make out on their front lawns the first two campaign signs (NDP, naturally) to appear on the street.

  39. Yes to power at March 26, 2011 10:10 PM:
    I was going to comment on lifting Ross’s work too, but others have already beat me to it.
    For those who don’t know, Ross McKitrick, Economics professor at the University of Guelph, is one of Canada’s “little” unsung heros, along with sidekick Steve McIntyre at Climate Audit, in the fight for truth in climate change. Stealing from Ross is like stealing from your mother. A pox upon you for even thinking of doing it.

  40. Wonder how many screwy bulbs Suzuki turned off during his earthy hour? Did his facial hair catch fire from candles?
    Wonder if Lizzy May was in the dark and how would she know?

  41. Cripes… totally forgot about that nonsense last night. Was too busy watching an old caper movie on the home theatre whilst sipping a cognac, followed by a dip in the hot tub (conveniently kept at 102F).

  42. “Planning for success”-
    Look for the earth-hour organizers to change the event from 8:00pm – 9:00pm to 3:00am – 4:00am.

  43. To celebrate earth hour I turned on every light in the house and every other electronic device that could be left on then went down the street to a neighbour for coffee.
    I believe I did my part to show what a moronic hypocrisy this garbage is.

  44. Phone kids up and tell them there’s no Santa!
    Wrong analogy. Sitting idly by as your kids play Earth Hour is like phoning them up to tell them there’s no Stalin.

  45. Winning!
    http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/118730754.html
    EXCEPT for some government buildings and the home of Manitoba’s top environment official, most of Winnipeg was abominably ablaze during Earth Hour Saturday night.
    The symbolic planet-saving act of sitting in the dark for an hour was lost on most of Winnipeg, with highrise office buildings closed for business but still alight.
    http://www.calgaryherald.com/technology/Calgarians+choose+ignore+Earth+Hour+again/4510741/story.html?cid=megadrop_story
    Utility provider Enmax reported no noticeable drop in power consumption between 8: 30 p.m. and 9: 30 p.m. Saturday, when residents were asked to participate in Earth Hour by shutting off all nonessential power.

  46. I wonder where that neighborhood was. It seemed to be full of “useful idiots” in big houses promoting the undoing years of progress, and one holdout contrarian freedom fighter in favor of human progress.
    What could bring a neighborhood cluster like that together?

  48. Had no clue it was earth hour or I woulda turned all the lights on.
    BTW why was that dude out burning fossil fuels during earth hour? Mr. holier than thou! Typical leftard.

  49. The poor people of Japan observed Earth Hour. They’ve been doing it since March eleventh. Perhaps the eco-bots would like to give them a biodegradable plaque to commemorate their “commitment to the Earth”. The Japanese, in turn, can give them a kick to the groin. Shivering and freezing in the dark isn’t funny or noble. It’s a sad reality for some people. Maybe the eco-bots can trade places with the Japanese?

  50. Put on as may lights as we have (including basement, attic, garage and exterior.) Loaded up the dishwasher, waher and drier and I then took my Pontiac out in the countryside for some very spirited driving.
    Lovely wife and children stayed home and watched children’s TV on the big screen with the surround sound up.
    At one deserted intersection I left probably half of the previously remaining tread in one gigantic cloud of smoke. Hope Gaia choked on my tire smoke….

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