Here Today... Gone To Hell!

http://www.google.ca  has "turned off their lights" and I live a few blocks from the CN Tower which is apparently turning off it's new LED lights for the hour which is 8pm to 9pm.

Living downtown there may be too many lights turned on, but I think it would be cool if the stars would become visible.

Is there any buzz about this in your area?

would of have been great if the search results page would be a black background as well

F**k this planet and all the parasites that live on it!

Be even better if you could use the black version whenever you want. But yes, I think I'm going to try this. Not all my lights will be off, because it is dark out, but it's a good cause.

Hadn't heard about it...  interesting.

 Cities switch off lights for Earth Hour

(http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/4487/searsun0.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)



By CARYN ROUSSEAU, Associated Press Writer 7 minutes ago

CHICAGO - From the Sydney Opera House to Rome's Colosseum to the Sears Tower's famous antennas in Chicago, floodlit icons of civilization went dark Saturday for Earth Hour, a worldwide campaign to highlight the threat of climate change.

The environmental group WWF urged governments, businesses and households to turn back to candle power for at least 60 minutes starting at 8 p.m. wherever they were.

The campaign began last year in Australia, and traveled this year from the South Pacific to Europe to North America in cadence with the setting of the sun.

"What's amazing is that it's transcending political boundaries and happening in places like China, Vietnam, Papua New Guinea," said Andy Ridley, executive director of Earth Hour. "It really seems to have resonated with anybody and everybody."

Earth Hour officials hoped 100 million people would turn off their nonessential lights and electronic goods for the hour. Electricity plants produce greenhouse gases that fuel climate change.

In Chicago, lights on more than 200 downtown buildings were dimmed Saturday night, including the stripe of white light around the top of the John Hancock Center. The red-and-white marquee outside Wrigley Field also went dark.

"There's a widespread belief that somehow people in the United States don't understand that this is a problem that we're lazy and wedded to our lifestyles. (Earth Hour) demonstrates that that is wrong," Richard Moss, a member of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the climate change vice president for WWF, said in Chicago on Saturday.

Workers in Phoenix turned out the lights in all downtown city-owned buildings for one hour. Darkened restaurants glowed with candlelight in San Francisco while the Golden Gate Bridge, Coit Tower and other landmarks extinguished lights for an hour.

New Zealand and Fiji were first out of the starting blocks this year. And in Sydney, Australia ? where an estimated 2.2 million observed the blackout last year ? the city's two architectural icons, the Opera House and Harbour Bridge, faded to black against a dramatic backdrop of a lightning storm.

Lights also went out at the famed Wat Arun Buddhist temple in Bangkok, Thailand; shopping and cultural centers in Manila, Philippines; several castles in Sweden and Denmark; the parliament building in Budapest, Hungary; a string of landmarks in Warsaw, Poland; and both London City Hall and Canterbury Cathedral in England.

Greece, an hour ahead of most of Europe, was the first on the continent to mark Earth Hour. On the isle of Aegina, near Athens, much of its population marched by candlelight to the port. Parts of Athens itself, including the floodlit city hall, also turned to black.

In Ireland, where environmentalists are part of the coalition government, lights-out orders went out for scores of government buildings, bridges and monuments in more than a dozen cities and towns.

But the international banks and brokerages of Dublin's financial district blazed away with light, illuminating floor after empty floor of desks and idling computers.

"The banks should have embraced this wholeheartedly and they didn't. But it's a start. Maybe next year," said Cathy Flanagan, an Earth Hour organizer in Dublin.

Ireland's more than 7,000 pubs elected not to take part ? in part because of the risk that Saturday night revelers could end up smashing glasses, falling down stairs, or setting themselves on fire with candles.

Likewise, much of Europe ? including France, Germany, Spain and European Union institutions ? planned nothing to mark Earth Hour.

Internet search engine Google lent its support to Earth Hour by blackening its normally white home page and challenging visitors: "We've turned the lights out. Now it's your turn."

I try to be very aware of electric use as well as water. Without sacrificing comfort I routinely keep my electric bills at half of what my neighbors run.

Over the next few months I'll be working on getting solar panels for my home, to run nearly 100% off the grid. Should be cool, and I will definitely post pictures when they are installed.

You commie traitor, 4000 Americans didn't die in Iraq so you can experiment with alternative energy sources  ;D

Hopefully, we can focus on ways to prevent these senseless deaths in the future. I will do my best to adhere to a lifestyle that encourages change and promotes conservation.

Let me know how this goes.  I've thought about this recently, and now that the weather's improving would be the time to do it. 

I'm interested in three things:

Cost.
Effort.
Know-how required.

The third is particularly important.  Does it take some major know how about wiring, et cetera?  Or is it fairly straightforward?

I am looking at renting panels for the home. From what I am reading it hands down beats buying them. Minimal deposit, they set it up, and you maintain it. You sign a lease of 1,2,5,25 yrs at a SET PRICE for the rental term. That's amazing really, think about the long term savings on the back end of that thing. They will move it for you once, after that, you will pay for the cost of moving it.

I'm sure some type of insurance is required as well. For me, it's something to consider, since a hurricane can simply take the thing up and away.

I also do not think it goes 100 percent off the grid, but a substantial portion does. Which still is pretty damn good. If I remember correctly they will provide you with updated components as time marches on. That makes renting even more appealing IMO.

So I've got one more thing to tackle before I get started with that, but hopefully I can get that ironed out this year.

I had no idea that you could rent this stuff.  What's the cost/month to do so?

Ever heard of www.blackle.com (http://www.blackle.com)?

Quick Search (http://rentsolar.com/)

Gore has taken all his profits from his award winning movie, along with his Nobel money and has put it into a new campaign for global warming awareness. Expect to see bipartisan ads running this week.

Yeah, I caught that interview. 

I like Al.

So...when are you going to point your fingers at the real bad guys, Al? Or do you hesitate because they're your friends?

Ewww......

You should write him an email and call him chicken.

I'm sure the NSA will relay the message.

What would that message be? What friends of Gore should he point the finger at?

Dissident activity in Sector C. Move in for the kill. :hihi:

He could start with his Rockefeller CFR buddies.

Well the Earth hour is over, everybody go about your business.

Conscience paid off once more.

You're so sexy with your ambiguous self, come over here and sit on your Auntie Edna's lap. 

Does Aunt Edna give it up on the first date?

Only if you love the earth as much as she does.

Green = Green light.

*Sneaks into the bathroom*

Make sure you are using fluorescent lights in there!

It has been years, but I did some research that showed feasibility is obtained in 12-15 years with an active/passive design.

Again, that's why renting makes more sense to me right now. If I can rent solar at the monthly cost of my electric bill and that is locked in for the term of my rental, that's a no brainer. That or pay 40k for something that will probably be obsolete in 5 years anyway.

BTW my electric, just being mindful of my use, was a mere 106 bucks last month. That's with a 2000 sq ft home and a pool! 106!!!!

Dude, where do you live? I want to move there.

It's how I monitor my electric use, not where I live. I have a buddy who has an apartment half the size of my place an has electric bills that are double.

I never run two appliances at the same time, ie Washer/Dryer or Dishwasher/Pool Pump.

I only turn on the hot water heater 15 minutes before taking a shower, then turn it back off.

Wash my clothes in cold water, and buy detergent for cold water washing.

Set my thermo higher and use fans-but only in the room I may be in at the time.

More energy efficient light bulbs through my house.

Lights are only on in a room I'm in, if I leave a room, I turn the light off.

Set my fridge temp higher.

Have a heat recovery system for my AC which creates hot water during the warm months (about half the year.)

Stuff like that.

damn..you're sexy when you're frugal

You don't have to thank me...really.

seriously...THAT is not what you told me last night...and I want cab fare next time

We generated enough electricity to run my pool pump for 10 days!  :o :o

that was before you got there...remember?? tell Kujo to lose the thong next time and I don't care what you say, sticking my finger in it will NOT make my hair curly >:(

wait it was only for three and a half days punk. or as it was 48 pumps

that reminds me Kujo never returned that thong.

Back on topic, I have all my house guests ride the bike in the garage to generate power for the ac before offering them a wine or hors D'oeuvres.

I don't have many guests come back though.

Check ebay.

THAT was no bike, I can assure you Sir! >:(

Well it did have pedals, and three different speeds...

I just did . A twenty for a used thong. :o :o


 by the way punk I did fertilize your lawn for you , well it was only a few patches of it.

and there was chains too.