Earth Hour - A whole world of hurt

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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I love causes. Honestly I do. I have bought ribbons and pens and badges from everything from SIDS to Rainbow Day. However, last night was the pointless-cause night ever bar none, as I was forced to witness Earth Hour.

After being in Melbourne to watch the most excellent production of ‘Guys and Dolls’, and having a wonderful Chinese meal, my husband and I decided to visit some our friends who were having a party. So we drove to the suburb where said party was happening and joked between ourselves that we could do with a feed of McDonalds - when in fact had we eaten anything more, we would’ve left a trail. Coming up to our turnoff, we saw the Golden Arches and husband said “Lucky for us, they’re not open” whereupon I commented “It’s 8.15pm, they’ve turned their external lights out for Earth Hour”, and he chortled and I chortled and then I snorted and we continued on our way. Shortly thereafter we arrived at the party…

… only to find that said friends were celebrating “Earth Hour”. There wasn’t a light on in the place. After I picked myself up off the ground having tripped up the stairs and stauching my bleeing leg with a handful of tissues, we/I limped up to the front door and banged on it. Whereupon I lost my balance in the dark, headbutted my husband who dropped my bottle of wine, yelled as HE went down on his knees, and then the hostess greeted us enthusing “We’re celebrating Earth Hour!” I commented “Yes, I noticed, but I thought you’d just forgotten to pay the electricity bill”. She led us outside where the party was grooving to music pumped from speakers and coming from their computer. It was a cold night in Melbourne. But the 4 gas patio heaters ensured we were warm.

As did the Spitfire gas powered heater. I thought that this would be the only source of light, but no! There were about 100 Chinese made candles that burnt quite brightly and left a lovely trail of wax all over the pavers and black marks on the ceilings and walls, but hey! It’s Earth Hour right? Then there was our friend Brian, who had been having a lovely time, but in the dark and after too many Jim Beams was plaiting his feet and proceeded to trip over yet another heating device and set fire to himself, and in the hilarity which ensued, almost put his cigarette out in someone’s eye, but hey! It’s Earth Hour! We all stood around Brian as a source of heat and warmth that would normally have been provided by … I don’t know, electricity perhaps? Because he was now the source of light as the flames crept up his legs. We did put him out, but on the proviso that someone turn a fucking light on so we could ice his burn.

And then at 9.00pm we gathered in the backyard to watch the most amazing fireworks, as the Victorian State Government CELEBRATED Earth Hour. Well done. I have a huge gaping hole in my leg. Brian has a nasty hangover and a burn on his leg. Our hosts of the party try every chemical known to man to get the black marks off surfaces created by candles made in China - but hey - we made a difference didn’t we? (Stop crying Brian!)

I reckon next year, we turn on EVERY light and leave our cars idling in the driveway to celebrate the fact that we’ve come down from the trees, and out of the caves and created something called electricity which means we don’t trip over in the fucking dark and we don’t set our guests on fire for light.

I know that there are those of you who will howl “It’s all about awareness you stupid woman” and there are those of you who will say “At least I made a difference” and to you I say “I respect your beliefs” and will say no more. But as an individual, I can honestly say that Earth Hour excites me as much as having my pubic region waxed - it feels good aftwards, but at the time is excruciating and makes me wonder what the attraction is about when it’s sooooo painful at the time. :mad:

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::claps::

::claps::

::claps enthusiastically::
:: stands ::
:: continues to clap ::
Bravo.

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Thank you!!! Thank you!!! (((Bows, takes 12 long stemmed roses))) thank you again!!

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At the risk of being a wet blanket… I’m not going to excoriate you; I think you’re right to be upset – but you should be upset at your hosts, who did it all wrong.

The whole idea of Earth Hour wasn’t to sit in the dark and see how uncomfortable it is – it was to see if it’s possible for you to keep on living your life with a bit of the electricity you use without thinking (and without needing it) turned off for the duration.

For example, during Earth Hour at our home, we were watching TV and reading in the family room, so we had the kids turn off the lights in their rooms (which they always leave on), and turned off the overheads in the family room, using spots to read. Not much of a savings in electricity, far less than full darkness – but that wasn’t the point. The point was awareness – especially the kids’. And that was achieved, without going out of our way or suffering for it.

You’re right – being militaristic about a cause, and expecting people to suffer for it, will turn most of the potential troops off (hey, maybe that will save something! :rolleyes: :D); raising awareness, especially of the possibility of doing something by thinking about it rather than suffering for it, is more likely to catch popular opinion, and was what the intention of Earth Hour was all about.

So, yeah, your hosts screwed the pooch on this one. I’m hoping I’ve convinced you that it was their peculiar implementation of the idea, rather than the idea itself, that was at fault.

ETA: The fireworks were pretty stupid, too… in Tel-Aviv, the municipality hosted a free concert at Rabin Square where energy for the (subdued but existing) lighting and the amplification equipment was generated using alternative means (volunteer pedalers on foot-run generators and generators capable of burning used frying oil) – both of which were on separate display. Which I find far more fitting of the cause.

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Could not.
Agree with you.
More.

Loved the video on the Age website that showed before and after vistas and the city. Small disclaimer there to say that the 'before" shots were taken on another evening to “highlight the impact” of Earth Hour.

The fact that there will always be more lights on in the CBD during the working week, and that these clowns had to dodgy it up to make it look like pretty much anyone played along with this nonsense is just plain depressing.

Grrrrrrr.

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Depressing.
I task light - other than a single 15 watt light in a ceiling fixture to make it less hazardous to get to teh bathroom at night, we dont turn on anything but task lights. mrAru and I prefer high efficiency low wattage halogens, but our roomie prefers the compact fluorescents. At any given time there are 3 lights on in the house - the one in our space, the one in our roomies space and the safety light in the livingroom.

I simply dont understand lighting somewhere that nobody is using, and I really dont understand people who come over to visit and in the middle of the day, in broad daylight turn on the bathroom light to pee … that room faces the sun most of the day and has the best light in the house except for the kitchen which has a skylight in addition to the window in the back door and the window over the sink…

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I ate your electricity while you weren’t using it.

Sorry.

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A lot of good that did! :wink:

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I love Andrew Bolt. And Tim Blair. God, I’m so far on the right I’m about to fall off the edge.

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I love that the Sydney figures actually went up for the first half hour. Does this mean the Cockroaches turned their lights on so they could see the blackout better? :slight_smile:

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I’m pretty sure earth hour happend during the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens. Certainly the stadium did NOT celebrate - there would have been a riot.

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I didn’t personally celebrate Earth Hour, but certainly I’ve experienced power outages, and been to outdoor parties with no electric lighting at night, and I can’t imagine so many people in a situation like that being so clumsy and careless as to be tripping all over themselves, getting injured, and setting themselves on fire. I suggest that none of you ever go camping!

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Actually we are quite keen campers. Just generally there isn’t a stack of obstacles between point A and point B (like cunningly placed stacks of pavers and bricks) and we are PREPARED for the dark with torches and stuff. It’s the ‘surprising-thrust-upon-you-darkness-in-unfamiliar- surrounds’ that fucked us up! :eek: