A rant about "Earth Hour"

[EphraimRodrigez]

i just noticed... the lighting of my desk is made produced LED´s... they use so much electricity i could let them run on one normal AA battery for maybe a year or so...

so people if you want to make a difference DO STUFF THAT REDUCES YOUR ELECTRICITY NEEDS PERMANENTLY

the dumb thing is my whole LED things look kind of pointless when you look at the huge computer with 3 monitors that is hooked up to the same power socket

[joedacro1]

well earth hour is about turning of all electrical sources for the hour in which it runs. but in the end its pointless. if say a whole country did this so every house hold it still wont change anything. the reason the effort taken to shut down the power generators to load balance would just mean the power generators still run producing the electricity for no one to receive it. in actual fact it is worse than doing nothing. loved the vid :)

[colddrake80]

Well, it is all about creating a feeling. In this case self congratulation. Thought was divorced from action a long time ago.

It would probably be better to have people contribute a dollar with the goal of building a win turbine or some such.

[amorphusensanity]

furthermore, anyone who does not have access to tv, radio, newspaper, or the internet they are probably are already doing more by not wasting time using the extra power running their electronics.

[BasvandenBerg]

It is utter nonesense, just like all the other 'this and that' days. Then everyone cares about something for one day and then drops it. What use is that? You should generally care about these things, not one day a year. Also I believe technology and companies should solve the energy problem, not consumers. Companies making efficient use of energy helps a whole lot more then consumers buying other lightbulbs.

[miniwars123]

lol, if "global warming" gets any worse we're all going to freeze to death.

[DylanofMD]

Even hobos know that global warming exists.

[poopstreek]

@DylanofMD YouTube is the 17th leading cause of Global Warming.

[fp470]

@DylanofMD Did you have to write that out and 'memorise' that at school then? Keeping in mind many hobos also believe in aliens on earth, the great zog and that drinking their own urine is okay....not a good argument kid.

Listen to the man rather than writing down stuff your teachers compel you to

[lindybeige]

@fp470 Possibly he was joking.

[TnAprotester]

Love his sarcasm at the end of the video. Haha

[ViraIVideos]

If anything it will raise awareness for the need for renewable energy, although not it's given intent, it may be a secondary or tertiary consequence.

But for the most part, it isn't raising awareness for saving electricity as clearly we already know to do that.

But yea, it does give people a happy feeling so I can see why it's so popular.

[LucanJacups]

Wait, it's only one lightbulb? We shut off all the power in our house on that day.

Anyways, it's actually a self-defeating event. The energy surge caused by so many people flipping of their electricity at the same time uses far more energy than if everyone had just left them on.

[1Scattered]

Good on you for calling bs on PC nonsense

[TheFountainGuard]

Earth Hour is even more pointless where I live, seeing as that our main power source is hydro-electric. But even if this were to be done in an area that used coal, perhaps as a main power source, it wouldn't save the planet at all turning off a light bulb for an hour. It's not as if the electricity produced will be stored anywhere, it just goes nowhere, and wastes all that coal that was burned for electricity.

[audiohead84]

This was ages ago but i will throw in my 2 cents, mine is a variation on the raising awareness argument. As you rightly pointed out most people are already aware of climate change the problem is getting them to commit to some sort of positive change. Earth day got people not only aware but performing an action based on that awareness, which is worth something and more likely to be translated into their every day lives. Personally i resented having to sit in a dark room for an hour.

[Adjuni]

You are my favourite ranter on YouTube :D

[thebruceleefan]

hey Im a big fan of self ritousness and keep posting very humerouse

[MerlinsJester]

@thebruceleefan "Speel" your wurds correkt, dummeh.

[gorzinplatz]

Today is the day....time to raise awareness! Well whoop de doo!

[cambler365]

the people unaware of globle warming would be the ones without electricity anyway lol

[IIIArrow711]

your gona have to turn off the light bulbs off for well a hell of a lot longer than one hour to make a drop of water in a bucket full of water difference.

[StoopidSins]

I believe it was ment to be symbolic, not actually do anything.

[MerlinsJester]

@StoopidSins That kinda says something about the enviromentalists, now doesn't it?

[EmperorBarbarosa]

This event may be used to plant a psychological trigger in the minds of those who participate which will cause them to buy more of this "we should be running on wind and the sun like plants" bs that's become so popular with todays morons.

[MerlinsJester]

@EmperorBarbarosa We're being trained to be political vegetables; seems pretty plausible to me...

[debobrien1]

not sure if this has already been covered as I only read one page of responses, but my understanding of the event was that we were supposed to turn All our lights out and any other electronics i.e. tvs and computers? for one hour. thats a Little bit more impact then everyone turning out One bulb, especially if that one bulb is a compact florescent ;-)

and yes awareness is being raised because while they were campaigning for it they were saying other things that one could do to help everyday.

[lindybeige]

Yes, I could have said "lights" plural, but perhaps I'm weird in that I only have the light on in the room I'm actually in.

[Doliath]

You're totally right.

[ezekieloak]

It is a symbolic gesture, cowgirl. Started in Sydney. Read a bit more about it.

[koopagamer]

my answer to earth hour: go to sleep without a light bulb on, you pussy!

6-10 hours of no light bulbs at around the same time. a far greater difference than earth hour will ever be, and I came up with that off the top of my head.

[MerlinsJester]

@koopagamer But... then you'll be having eviromentalists humping your leg for "caring so much for the earth".... isn't that scary?

[FAN4U09]

Videos like this.. raise the awareness that there are still lots of knuckle dragging Neanderthals roaming the planet.

TURN OUT THE LIGHTS

Saturday, March 28,

8:30-9:30pm

in your local time zone

[lindybeige]

Gosh, you must be a wonderful person.

[japerry]

no, just a very ignorant one

[Okzcarian]

haha sarcastic punch!

[NoisemakerArrow]

@lindybeige Deep down.

[neveSykcuL]

You may want to get off of youtube and shut off your computer, maybe you will sound less hypocritical.

And yes I do realize this was 4 months ago, I just don't care.

[lindybeige]

I'm not sure whom you are calling hypocritical here. Anyway, thanks for commenting.

[MerlinsJester]

@neveSykcuL How is it hypocrisy? What is he saying and doing the opposite of?

Answer: NOTHING!

[lonewarrior666]

Its not about the turning off the light but the light pollution. Not the power but the light. Many people don't know it, like apparently you. But it is causes a lot of problems. Ever notice how migrating birds fly right into brightly lighted buidlings? Thats light pollution.

While maybe the poeple didn't quite understand why they were turning off the light, and there are other ways of going about it more effiecently. IT was something!!! At least they tried, and dosn't that count?

[lindybeige]

No, trying does not count. If I try to kill your children and fail, would you excuse me if I said "Well at least I tried"? There is no virtue in simply trying.

As for the light pollution thing, that is certainly not the way the event was promoted. The event failed spectacularly if it was for raising awareness of light pollution. What is your suggestion? That all cities be blacked out permanently for the sake of the birds?

[lonewarrior666]

No, you just change where the light is pointed too. Not very hard,

And yes I supose in some case trying does not help, but something like this? It's just to get the word out. And yes it did fail spectacularly, but people did find out. So it did something or we wouldn't have this conversation right now.

[phuongtk]

it's for light pollution? then why the heck did they light up millions of candles during the event?

[blackshade9]

Haha! That made me laugh.

The guys got a good point.

[MerlinsJester]

@lonewarrior666 Light pollution? Really? I thought saving the earth was about cutting down on energy usage!

Seriously, that's incredibly retarded. Our earth is "light polluted" by the sun. And, even with the pseudo day in some cities at night, I doubt that light pollution ruins the earth at all.

[gregvs3]

In my best estimation, environmentalism is some sort of semi-religious guilt trip. It wouldn't bother me so much if it didn't lead to western countries placing ridiculous environmental conditions on aid to developing countries. I mean, people who are fairly well off telling the less fortunate that they can't do what is necessary to stay warm, in the name of "mother earth"?

You said it perfectly - self-righteous arrogance.

[soaringheart5]

Dude... way to kill the fun?! Even if it DOESN'T make a difference AT ALL (which it actually does... why would they be doing it on such a large scale otherwise HMMM?) Then at least families are having FUN doing it! I did, but you have to come along and trample it down?! I myself am furious... Thanks for posting such a sniveling mean video... you have made all of us very, very, VERY happy.

[lindybeige]

If turning your lights off is such fun, why do you need Earth Hour? Turn them off every night. As for the large scale, well that has no logic to it at all. If lots of people believe in Hindu gods, does that mean that they exist? Scale means nothing other than that an idea has caught on. It is little comment on the quality of the idea.

[Joshuawahl]

Actualy there is a theory that if enough people...Just Joking here I agree with you a hundred percent on this...its silly.

[gregvs3]

Soaringheart15 -

"Popularity is the hallmark of mediocrity."

[PerfectChaos1212]

you know how you save the planet.....by paying carbon emission fees lmao

[PerfectChaos1212]

oh wait....did i say save the planet.. i mean make allow yourself to get over that "green guilt"

[MerlinsJester]

@soaringheart5 Dude-- who the hell thinks that 1 hour to counter about 364 day's worth is gonna do shit? Seriously.

[gozzaoz]

Whether it is one light or the whole house, where does the power produced by the power stations go to? No, the generators are not wound down for "Earth Hour" the unused power that is generated is used for another purpose like for example heating tanks of water or driving pumps etc. So no actual power is saved,"Earth Hour" is self congratulatory to the middle class, comfortable people. Now call me an arse not a donkey. I use a toilet to relieve internal pressure, the bathroom is where I wash!!

[Chipster1337]

...Wouldn't all the lights in the house have to be on for you to turn one off and make the diffrence of haveing one light bulb off? (if that doesn't make sense sorry i'm tired)lol

And I've got lights in my house that might get turned on one or two times a week. So I guess I'm doing real good.

[MrDeverill]

Rather than awareness it does show a kind of good example.

It wasn't just a light bulb it was supposed to be the whole house.

I do however agree with some of your points.

[lindybeige]

True, it needn't have been just one light bulb. Personally, I tend not to have the light on except in the room I'm in, though. Stuff saving the planet - I'm thinking of the bill. Still makes me smile to think of all that carbon dioxide going up into the air from all those candles lit to replace the electric lights...

[MrDeverill]

haha you are so right ^_^

Things such as Rice Fields and Cow farts - Methane gives of more.

[wootswoots]

Humorously enough, the heat produced by a light bulb helps cut back on the energy needed to keep a house warm.

[lindybeige]

Yes, and if you have a thermostatically-adjusted heating system, then using lights automatically saves heating power, although I heard on the radio from someone who had supposedly looked into this that it doesn't save as much heating power as the bulb converts into heat. I suspect that the new white-LED technology will be the next big thing. These mini-fluorescent-tube bulbs are mercury-laden rubbish.

[kommanderlum]

i reckon the media used more power promoting this event than was saved by the event itself.

sure it's a gut instinct but i daresay i'm right. anyone care to do the math to show i'm wrong?

[tylerwilliam82]

there are two types of people in this world..people who dream and want to make a change in the world..and people who criticize them. Its pretty obvious which type of person you are..go to the old folks home and gripe with all of them..im sure they will listen (or pretend to).

[lindybeige]

There are people who divide the world into two types of person, and those who don't.

[tylerwilliam82]

you just did in your video, those who read newspapers or "the aware" and the "unaware"...really, watch your video

[lindybeige]

You really have *no* sense of humour, do you?

I'm sorry - you're probably American, and young. I should explain that irony is not a metal like goldy or brassy, but a form of language in which one points out the strange but fitting absurdities of life, or perhaps in which one says things that one doesn't actually mean. Can you see it now?

[tylerwilliam82]

I am american(chicago,and yes,I turned out my lights),and not as young as I used to be. -a form of language in which one points out the strange but fitting absurdities of life, or perhaps in which one says things that one doesn't actually mean- I have had to put up with Bush talk for the last 8 years, I know this irony well, and hence the loss of my sense of humor. Dude, many of your videos are rants about this and that. Anyone can criticize, its easy. If everyone criticises, nothing gets done!

[ecoguard1]

very true. keep up the good work and don't let anyone stop your comments.

[ANiMalBaBii09]

2) Will put out a lit splint.

3) Will turn moist blue litmus paper red

4) Bubbling it through limewater (calcium hydroxide solution) OR barium hydroxide solution turns the liquid cloudy.

[ANiMalBaBii09]

... except that the carbon dioxide generated occupies the exact same volume as the oxygen did, and the drawing up of the water is only due to the gases cooling and contracting after the candle went out.

To prove that carbon dioxide was generated, here are some simple tests:

1) Has no colour or smell.

[ANiMalBaBii09]

It's common knowledge that if you fix a candle in the center of a shallow bowl of water and cover the candle with a glass, then the water will be drawn up into the glass by roughly 20% of the glass, and the candle will go out. Thus "proving" that the candle burnt up the 20% oxygen in the air...

[kommanderlum]

agreed. you can't use less power if your concerned and are already useing as little power as possible.

i vote we use more nuclear power.

*watches the ecomentals go nuts*

[ANiMalBaBii09]

wow dude, ur really pissen people off, im tellin utube 'bout this and u can get ur ass kicked off the friken site!!!

[lindybeige]

You might be right to do so. I suppose that it is important that people should not be allowed to voice opinions, not on a site like YouTube. The staff at YouTube will doubtless see that it hurts their site to allow people to express themselves on it. I don't have a wild donkey on this site, so I imagine that you meant to write "arse".

[ANiMalBaBii09]

wat the hell is an arse! get the hell off u tube, and plz, get off of myyearbook!!! ur too old!!!

[lindybeige]

Since you are curious to learn, I'll tell. An ass is a wild donkey. It also sounds a bit like "arse" and is used by Americans as a euphemism for it. Americans are prim about language, and some don't even seem to spot that "bathroom" is a euphemism for lavatory.  Actual bathrooms have baths in them. Have a great time growing and learning.

[egerie7]

Be more constructive instead of judging everyone and putting them all in the same bag.

[lindybeige]

Oh okay, I'll give you your own *special* bag.

[egerie7]

So is it just a bad period or are you really pissed off at everyone?

[ANiMalBaBii09]

haha!!!!

[soaringheart5]

Do some freeking research man! it wasn't just 1 light bulb I can tell you that! A lot of people completely turned their electricity off. And believe it or not, you would be surprised how many people I talked to about earth hour, had no idea how bad global warming really was. I am just sorry that you are so ignorant... stop causing drama to cover it up. And oh, about the candles... that's just a desperate argument to keep your head above water, because you see that the odds are against you.

[lindybeige]

I've done lots of research, thanks, and am doing more. So, you know how bad global warming is do you? That would make you unique. So, are you able to tell me how much CO2 a candle puts out? If not, then your argument crumbles.

[zbshogun]

you're a fuckin idiot. first of all i wasn't aware that it was 1 light bulb. it looked to me that entire cities turned off their lights. It's a start, and fags like you stall the process. Nobody said it made you a good person for doing it. God damn you are a sad sad bitter person.

[lindybeige]

Many thanks for your abuse. Keep it coming.

[soaringheart5]

I agree! You know what mister... Do some freeking research man! it wasn't just 1 freeking light bulb I can tell you that! And believe it or not, you would be surprised how many people I talked to about earth hour, had no idea how bad global warming really was. I am just sorry that you are so ignorant... stop causing drama to cover it up.

[lumabi25]

I think they've dropped "global warming" now in favour of "climate change" because (at least here) it got particularly cooler 18 months ago.

There is climate change, but it's affecting the entire solar system, not just earth. Now there's an inconvenient truth.

I read a blog last night with the headline "Earth Hour exposes idiots". I couldn't agree more.

[maffew07]

@lumabi25

Global warming doesn't mean everywhere is suddenly going to be like the canary islands or anything. It means that global weather systems are going to become more and more inconsistant...therefore yes of course some places like your area could see cooling. england saw some of it's worst snows. Sweden saw one of it's coldest winters on record...yet still the arctic melts..? Last year the world saw one of it's hottes years on record...overall surface temperature that is. So get wise.

[lindybeige]

@maffew07 This is in itself a matter of contention. There are people pointing out that the world is not heating up overall, and that merely the places where people are, taking measurements, are warming up, while unpopulated areas remain stable, and others pointing out that it is due to be warming up naturally.

[aaron12345432]

sure it may just be one hour. But think about this, soon it will be Earth day, then Earth weekend, then Earth week, then Earth month, etc

[lindybeige]

Yup - it's the thin end of the wedge.

[HimselfFilm]

There is no belief, global warming is a fact, our planet IS dying, becuase of carbon caused by us.

Just because a change is a small one, doesnt mean it is invalid. Little changes add up to a big change.

It is the ignorance of people like you that is counteracting the good deeds of people who are aware of this problem.

In short.... your a short sighted dick

I participated in earth hour, not as a gesture, becuase i care about my planet.

[lindybeige]

Even "Friends of the Earth" has admitted publicly that <2% of CO2 emissions are Man-made. When Mt St Helens went pop in 1980 it put as much CO2 into the atmosphere in one hour as the output of every factory on Earth for 40 yrs. There is almost no evidence for CO2 causing global warming. Indeed, ice core data show that CO2 rises AFTER temperature rises. I care about my planet so much that I try to find out the facts.

Still, thanks for responding.

[iHateLandingPrimo]

excellent argument, it really is a stupid idea.

[Jean2291]

The Event is Not for turing off ONE light bulb in your house, its for turing ALL of your lights in your house from 8PM to 9PM Saturday night. And not just in homes but apparently all buildings, schools, streets lights, neon signs Everything and Everywhere there light bulbs. Its going to be dark! I looked for to see this. Of course I 'am going to participate and take out my candels. Turning off just one bulb would not make very much. Anyway USUALLY you NEVER use all your lamps in the same time.

[lindybeige]

Okay, turning off your lightS for one hour. Big whoop.

[lindybeige]

Have you calculated how much CO2 you put into the air by burning candles instead? What do you think is more efficient - a modern electric lightbulb, or a candle?

[macdaddymcdirt]

thats why its called awareness its not supposed to save the planet.

half a million people watched the video on youtube. thats awareness

you talk about people who "believe in" CO2 emissions thoses are facts.

[lindybeige]

Did it make you aware? Really?

"Facts", eh? So why are these facts kept secret? Why did the IPCC, with access to the world's best data for 30 years, not manage to come up with a case for it? It isn't a fact, it is a religion.

[ANiMalBaBii09]

U NEED TO SHUT THE HELL UP U ASSHOLE! WE ARE TRYING!!! LIKE U SAID MILLIONS OOF PEOPLE ARE DOING THIS TO SAVE THE EARTH!!! SO GO FUCK A MONKEY AND SHUT THE HELL UP ABOUT UR GAY RANTS, NOT FUNNY AT ALL. i am very offened,

and i will be tellig WWF about this so, HAHAHAHA GO GET SUED MOTHER FUCKER!!!

[lindybeige]

Many thanks for this contribution. I particularly like the way that you use only abuse to make your case, and no actual arguments, facts, or logic. A wonderfully self-discrediting comment.

[gorzinplatz]

Hilarious! Keep it coming.

[woody2000]

And there I was going to join in! It's as if you've told me about Father Christmas not being real.

You heartless fiend!

Will you join me in switching extra bulbs on to make up the difference?

Mark