Earth Hour in ED

[Andystar]

i just wanted to say that I got an earful from my ex-housemate last Earth hour because I kept my light on, even though he left an average of four lights in our house (toilet, bathroom, kitchen & living room) on *all night, every night* for 6 months. He once told me a story abt a ghost who used to turn lights off in his old house, I just said "No it wasnt a ghost, it was ur mum"

Oh & i promise i'll use blackle from 8:30 onwards...

[charliecharlie]

half an hour till lights off folks....

[Mikecg]

I'm going to flip the switch on the consumer unit, I am shutting down My Sony Vaio living room PC and getting ready to turn all electrical items off before hand be sure to power of everything if you flip you switch on the consumer unit otherwise you could blow a fuse when you turn it back on. Ive got 3 x laptops all batteries are charged and ready to go.

[macroban]

What happened. These guys should know.

[woodie]

All awf here. V cute.not many other houses in the road. Dont care. Reminds me of that victorian house in spitalfields that u can only visit once a month. Has lavender everywhere and a sweatshop in the attic. No eeeelectriicity.

[charliecharlie]

did you do it???

ps I think having your lap tops on even if pre charged and running off the batteries is cheating!!!

[PeckhamRose]

The London Eye did not go off. It's dark blue, which is cheating. Weird to see Tower Bridge disappear though! Our view of London is looking mighty weird with only the Gherkin being highlighted by its red lights.

[woodie]

Laptop no,iphone thingy.

[Mikecg]

I killed the lights shut everything off and lit some candles but It appears that no one else did when I looked out the window but hey at least me and the gang have done one small thing to help the world.

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

Forget giving up the cars. Looks like we'll have to go vegetarian:

While the Irish Republic and Denmark forge ahead with plans to introduce a "flatulence tax" on cattle ? much to the disgust of farmers in both countries ? UK farmers are bracing themselves for a similar move.

According to the United Nation's Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), livestock is responsible for 18 per cent of the greenhouse gas emissions that are thought to contribute to climate change.

A cow emits as much as four tons of methane each year through burps and farts compared to 2.7 tons of carbon dioxide emitted by the average car.

The mooted tax of ?75 per cow would decimate the UK beef and dairy industry, which is already under strain from cheap milk and meat imports.

Farmers, however, are being encouraged to experiment with alternative diets to improve the digestive systems of their animals and stave off bovine flatulence ? and the accompanying tax.*

*The Telegraph

[Mamma Mia]

We did it too. Teenagers were grumbling but the younger ones found it very exciting with all the candles glowing. Made us think about how much electricity we normally use when we started turning everything back on again. Doubt the hour makes much difference but certainly raises awareness.

[????]

Didn't we all do well..

*pats himeself on back, turns on computer, starts car, books holiday flights*

[Mikecg]

Yes we did.

*turns on central heating lights bonfire with 1970's sofa on and old tyres boots up 5 computers 3 laptops and turns on plasma*

[Mikecg]

charliecharlie Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> did you do it???

>

> ps I think having your lap tops on even if pre

> charged and running off the batteries is

> cheating!!!

It's OK charlie my laptop has been emissions test to iso 9002 standards.

[charliecharlie]

Peckhamgatecrasher Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Forget giving up the cars. Looks like we'll have

> to go vegetarian:

good point Peckhamrose... also, if not going vegetarian, try eating more chicken and less beef

to 'grow' one kilo of beef requires 11 kilos of food stuff

for pork it is 7 kilos to one kilo of edible meat

and for the dear old chicken...

two kilo of feed to result in one kilo of chicken

pretty obvious that being veggie (ie one kilo of veg = one kilo of veg!!) is the best option but hey, we're not all perfect

just do what you can

*adds [re]think to my list of reminders to self*

[re]claim, [re]create, [re]cycle, [re]duce, [re]make, [re]mind, [re]source and [re]use

[woodie]

spose its almost meaningless or deep as hell which way you want to look at it. Went to the british museum today, all the mummies and what not. As you go round you pick up on stuff like, incredible feats of mummification( how could they test that? with time?) and art and science and tools and thinking that has year tag further back in time from 'birth of christ' than we are ahead the other side of it yet. by at least a 1000 years. we are bitchin about earth hour. world resources, end of oil..

[Shu.Kurimu.Sensei]

Food, water, oil, money, lots of new wars to come, but hey, thats for the buggyboo riders to look forward to ;)

Did they have any of these btw?

http://www.jref.com/culture/japanese_buddhist_mummies.shtml

British Museum is wicked!

[Huguenot]

Numbers numbers numbers....

When TLS was in his heyday (1950) and everyone was nice, there were only 2.5bn people in the world to be fed and entertained. In 2000 there were 6bn, and now there's around 6.75bn.

Numbers numbers numbers....

[mockney piers]

When you think about it global warming and the ensuing drop in population is just natural cycle of life.

A species is created, if it's successful enough it dominates its environment and expands its population, it requires more resources than that available to support its population and produces pollutants that restrict the ability of said environment to support it.

Population plummets until environment is capable of supporting species successfully again. Population increases to more sensible levels, but it will still overpopulate leading to a more moderate population crash, leading to a more sensible increase, etc, rinse and repeat until population finds equilibrium in about 8000 years time, assuming superior species hasn't wiped out planet with dangerous technology, or buggered off in pointy things with flames out the back.

Classic lifecycle; we are but bacteria in a petri dish, nothing to see here, move along (just glad I won't be around when the first and biggest crash begins).

Of course, all that said, we are blessed with intelligence and should be capable of breaking this, just all the evidence points at us being too selfish to do anything about it. The same reason why free markets won't solve anything, they positively rely on that selfishness!!

[charliecharlie]

maybe you will maybe you won't... got any kids? or friedns and family who have?

xxcc

[mockney piers]

everyone is someone's kid charliecharlie.

But seriously, I don't think there's any room for complacency, I'm always banging the drum of the need for a seismic shift in the way we live our lives to prevent future catastrophe.

I'm merely pointing out that to a certain extent this is preordained on a macro level, it's simply the way life itself functions.

It's happened before to humanity, most populations in the world suffered catastrophic decline around the 15th century BC, probably down to climate changes, that's not to say that this one isn't man-made, it is, and not to say we can't do anything about it, though nooone knows if we've passed tipping point or not, and by the time we do, it will be too late of course.

[charliecharlie]

[quote name=

Mockney Piers

everyone is someone's kid charliecharlie.

But seriously' date=' I don't think there's any room for complacency, I'm always banging the drum of the need for a seismic shift in the way we live our lives to prevent future catastrophe.

I'm merely pointing out that to a certain extent this is preordained on a macro level, it's simply the way life itself functions.]

yes... and you defined your viewpoint articulately and clearing... made for interesting reading

I was kinda teasing... but at the same time, was not talking about 'us'... ie. this generation, but 'them'... the next generation, our future

[Mikecg]

Surley you mean evolves MP over a period of millions of years. if not who is it created by?

mockney piers Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> When you think about it global warming and the

> ensuing drop in population is just natural cycle

> of life.

> A species is created, if it's successful enough it

> dominates its environment and expands its

> population, it requires more resources than that

> available to support its population and produces

> pollutants that restrict the ability of said

> environment to support it.

>

> Population plummets until environment is capable

> of supporting species successfully again.

> Population increases to more sensible levels, but

> it will still overpopulate leading to a more

> moderate population crash, leading to a more

> sensible increase, etc, rinse and repeat until

> population finds equilibrium in about 8000 years

> time, assuming superior species hasn't wiped out

> planet with dangerous technology, or buggered off

> in pointy things with flames out the back.

>

> Classic lifecycle; we are but bacteria in a petri

> dish, nothing to see here, move along (just glad I

> won't be around when the first and biggest crash

> begins).

>

> Of course, all that said, we are blessed with

> intelligence and should be capable of breaking

> this, just all the evidence points at us being too

> selfish to do anything about it. The same reason

> why free markets won't solve anything, they

> positively rely on that selfishness!!

[bigbadwolf]

What are you saying Mike?

[mockney piers]

fair point, I think I meant introduced, I really was talking about bacterial cultures on agar, but equally apply to say, grey squirrels or rabbits or mice swarms in Australia etc.

But evolve'll do...picky picky... ;-P