Comments on: Earthhour – Inspiration, collective meaning and the dangers of virtual absolution.

By: Mary Q Contrarie

Mary Q Contrarie — Sun, 24 May 2009 15:30:26 +0000

Great post. You really understand why these types of actions are necessary. As a result of the conversation we had at an Earth Hour gathering. I purchased a clothes drying rack and have not used my drying machine since.

By: Darren Landrum

Darren Landrum — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 19:14:50 +0000

My next car is going to be electric. That much I know for sure. I’ll probably build it myself using an old car chassis and body with a bad/non-existent engine. I’m hoping to get a 200 mile range out of it so I can get from home to my university and back (yes, us Americans and our impossibly-long commutes).

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 18:43:38 +0000

@ Steve Clark – you may know this already, but you can get low-energy dimmable bulbs nowadays too. They’re expensive compared to the ordinary kind though.

By: Scott

Scott — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 13:27:51 +0000

I totally missed it, but love the idea. Having two small children and not following the news regularly can yield results such as these. I’ll be there next time for sure… but why not just make a point to use less power in general. In fact, I’m closing my laptop right this very moment. Thanks.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 12:04:33 +0000

A good post! I sat by candle light listening to “Beyond the Missouri Sky” (believe it or not prompted by your tweet about Josh Haden earlier in the day!). It was very contemplative.

It did spark conversation – before and after. I was actually by myself during the hour.

I believe climate change is very important; anything that one can do to raise the issue up the agenda is important.

By: Pär Berglund

Pär Berglund — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 12:01:17 +0000

One particular effect of this, was the impact it had on my children (6 and 9 years old). They were on to it already in the morning, challenging me to turn off all my computers. For them this was something real, something they could grasp and think about. Before, it was only imaginary talk.

By: Steve Clark

Steve Clark — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 11:50:27 +0000

We watched TV (energy hungry CRT) with the lights off. I shut down the PC, so we were probably using around 200W less than usual. I wonder if enough people did something for this to register with the electricity companies. If so then they probably had to be prepared for a surge at 9:30.

I’ve seen several people saying Earth Hour wastes energy overall and is pointless, but it’s an alternative to us all travelling to a big demo.

I’m pretty energy conscious anyway, so turn things off when not required. I’d like to fit some more low energy bulb, but that means changing some dimmer units.

I would think that your boat would have some potential for reasonable wind power, but if you already have mains then it’s hard to justify for cost and use of resources for batteries etc.

We need everyone to cut their energy usage before renewables can be viable.

By: paddy

paddy — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 08:49:05 +0000

i played foosball by candlelight in honour of earth hour