Earth Hour

[Mahdi]

I was in Sydney last year when they began promoting it and it ended up being surprisingly huge. 

This year it's gone international and it's all over the news, radio, TV, etc here in Canada, with over 185 cities and communities taking part.

Is your area participating?  What will you do during your hour of darkness?

Maybe as people finish there hour they could post here all there activities and the results of the hour.  Since this site is so international we should be getting quite a few regular updates as the day goes over.

[Andrew]

Most municipalities where I am are participating. It will most likely be in the news.

I guess light pollution is much bigger in large cities. Looking at the Sydney pictures there is a lot of probably unnecessary lights on.

[Acriku]

That's so cool of an idea. Sadly, haven't heard it in Orlando and none of my colleagues knew about it. But my place will be dark on March 31st!

Maybe I'll make jello shots and make a campfire outside.

[gunner154]

No one told us anything. I doubt we're having it. Singapore always misses out on the fun stuff like these, I guess.

[Andrew]

Google website has turned black.

Google explanation

[Acriku]

I hope they're not saying their blackened website will save energy... And more so that it'll just make more aware of what's going on. But kudos to the spread of knowledge!

[Andrew]

In the link I provided Google clearly explain that the black background does not save energy.

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.

It is just for the awareness.

Do USA users get the black background?

Earth hour has been getting coverage in all our newspapers and television (3 main local national broadcasters) for the past week.

Lots of discussion about it, with some municipalities saying they will not be participating, and this gets lots of people talking.

[gunner154]

I've seen it on television, but the people interviewed don't look very Singaporean to me...

[Andrew]

It seemed to be quite successful in Canada (except Calgary, but that is because hockey was on).

Not that it will accomplish much. Energy usage will continue to increase.

[Vanguard3000]

We tried, but then pizza arrived and we forgot.

I wonder if Google shut off the lights in their head office, or just on their website...

[D2k Sardaukar]

the burglars are getting smarter every year...

everyone turning their lights out for a hour, the perfect moment...

[Emperor Harkonnen]

energy is really cheap in norway, so noone here does it.

A large part of the energy here is based on renewable energy sources such as waterpower. :)

[Dunenewt]

I didn't hear anything about it over here.

[Khan]

Nope. Although a few people in my seminars participated, or had it thrust upon them.

[lowzeewee]

I don't see the point of it all. During the one hour, they might as well have done their urination outside, drank only rainwater, turned off all cell phones, and cook directly with fire wood.

[Khan]

That's a good idea low, maybe next year it will get bigger.

[Dunenewt]

It is just another gimmick to make us more aware about the environment anyway, so as long as we're talk about it, it has served its purpose.

[Khan]

Indeed. Although I'm always wary of events which raise awareness to topics which are already massively publicized and have a huge presence in the media. I feel that awareness is no longer an issue for the environment, solutions and corporate pressure are.

[Dunenewt]

Well, surely the more events that take place, the more pressure on business and gov'ts to take notice?

[Khan]

Possibly but I think it will take people opting for environmentally friendly services, in spite of cost, to make power companies realise it is more beneficial to them to shy away from fossil fuels. I doubt they'll do it of their own accord and if people aren't willing to pay for the development of alternate methods (such as nuclear) the companies will not take the risk.

[Emperor Harkonnen]

nuclear power isn't going to save us, there are not enough engineers to construct enough powerplants to supply us with the power we need before the dammages are irreversible.

[Dunenewt]

Time to dust off the old hamster wheels then...

[Khan]

nuclear power isn't going to save us, there are not enough engineers to construct enough powerplants to supply us with the power we need before the dammages are irreversible.

Which is why I think we need to be prepared to invest large amounts of money and as consumers we have to be prepared to foot most of that bill. If nuclear power becomes lucrative you can bet a lot of people will want to become engineers.

[Emperor Harkonnen]

It is not that much time before it won't be anything we can do about it. And there is not enough time to think long-term, even if you used all engineers and universities to educate engineers in the world, it wouldn't be enough engineers or time to construct enough solar-panels and nuclearplants to stop it, within the time limit which I heard is around 2040.

If you want to stop it, then you must find another way, because nuclearpower is ineffective  ;)

[Khan]

What other way is there? wind and solar are pipe dreams.