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The whole idea of Earth Hour is not too bright
National Post ^ | March 22, 2013 | Bjørn Lomborg

Posted on 03/22/2013 12:58:20 PM PDT by Squawk 8888

On the evening of March 23, 1.3 billion people will go without light at 8:30 — and at 9:30, and at 10:30 — and for the rest of the night, just like they do every other night of the year. With no access to electricity, darkness after sunset is a constant reality for these people.

At the same time, another one billion people will participate in “Earth Hour” by turning off their lights from 8:30-9:30.

The organizers say that they are providing a way to demonstrate one’s desire to “do something” about global warming. But the reality is that Earth Hour teaches all the wrong lessens, and it actually increases CO2 emissions. Its vain symbolism reveals exactly what is wrong with today’s feel-good environmentalism.

Earth Hour teaches us that tackling global warming is easy. Yet, by switching off the lights, all we are doing is making it harder to see.

Notice that you have not been asked to switch off anything really inconvenient, like your heating or air-conditioning, television, computer, mobile phone or any of the myriad technologies that depend on affordable, plentiful energy electricity and make modern life possible. If switching off the lights for one hour per year really were beneficial, why would we not do it for the other 8,759?

(Excerpt) Read more at fullcomment.nationalpost.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
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1 posted on 03/22/2013 12:58:20 PM PDT by Squawk 8888
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To: Squawk 8888

Not me. I’m turning on every light I have, which is very unlike me.


2 posted on 03/22/2013 12:59:33 PM PDT by b4its2late (A Liberal is a person who will give away everything he doesn't own.)
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To: Squawk 8888

the short answer here is that we’re supposed to be liberal, not question our enviro-nazi masters, and do what we’re told. We’re supposed to accept on face value that we need to sit in the dark to make this political statement.

Good liberals don’t question their masters.


3 posted on 03/22/2013 1:01:17 PM PDT by Dilbert San Diego
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To: Squawk 8888
I guess my idea is not so bad after all, trying to combat the enviro whacko's.

In fact, Earth Hour will cause emissions to increase: As the United Kingdom’s National Grid operators have found, a small decline in electricity consumption does not translate into less energy being pumped into the grid, and therefore will not reduce emissions. Moreover, during Earth Hour, any significant drop in electricity demand will entail a reduction in CO2 emissions during the hour, but it will be offset by the surge from firing up coal or gas stations to restore electricity supplies afterward.

4 posted on 03/22/2013 1:02:06 PM PDT by b4its2late (A Liberal is a person who will give away everything he doesn't own.)
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To: Squawk 8888
We're going to look like Las Vegas.
Maybe brighter.
5 posted on 03/22/2013 1:04:01 PM PDT by grobdriver (Vivere liberi aut mori)
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To: Squawk 8888

We will be turning our lights out probably around 10 p.m. until about 7 a.m. tomorrow. Does that count?


6 posted on 03/22/2013 1:05:02 PM PDT by NEMDF
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To: NEMDF

LOL


7 posted on 03/22/2013 1:07:08 PM PDT by laplata
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To: Squawk 8888

Hmmm - NCAA tournament games are on tonight. Good luck with that light bulb thing.


8 posted on 03/22/2013 1:08:32 PM PDT by alancarp (Obama will grab your guns and ship them to Mexican drug mobs.)
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To: b4its2late

Me, too. Not to save the Earth, to save me some money. Utility bills can be killers during the winter months.


9 posted on 03/22/2013 1:12:14 PM PDT by beelzepug (Telling other people they need to die is a good way to get your own lamp blown out.)
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To: Squawk 8888

Looking at Obama’s plan for energy we will all be ‘in perpetual darkness’ before too long. Not to worry about a little feel good earth hour.


10 posted on 03/22/2013 1:13:20 PM PDT by Don Corleone ("Oil the gun..eat the cannoli. Take it to the Mattress.")
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To: Squawk 8888

Right. And they’ll have their smartphones, ipods, tablets and whatever else uses battery power, running full blast. Genius.


11 posted on 03/22/2013 1:13:36 PM PDT by Fast Moving Angel (A moral wrong is not a civil right: No religious sanction of an irreligious act.)
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To: Squawk 8888

Some of my neighbors leave outside lights on all night, several in fact, and it bugs me. They are younger than me and should know better. 45 years ago, I remember that my Dad hated lights at night - it’s unnatural.


12 posted on 03/22/2013 1:14:50 PM PDT by USMCPOP (Father of LCpl. Karl Linn, KIA 1/26/2005 Al Haqlaniyah, Iraq)
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To: b4its2late

Roger that. Thinking about getting some of those portable search lights to put in the back yard. You know, the ones that run on evil gasoline. LOL! Gonna try to light up the whole town. Sadly I guess I make up for it the rest of the year by turning crap off all the time. But it’s strictly one sided and an economic issue for me. My plants, grass and shrubs love them some CO2. I provide as much as I can and hope others are also contributing to their welfare.


13 posted on 03/22/2013 1:16:07 PM PDT by rktman (BACKGROUND CHECKS? YOU FIRST MR. PRESIDENT!(not that we'd get the truth!))
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To: Squawk 8888

“With no access to electricity, darkness after sunset is a constant reality for these people.”

Lomborg is a smart guy, so I’m gonna give him the benefit of the doubt that he’s aware there is such a thing as non-electric artificial light. But this sentence reads as if there were no such thing until incandescent lightnulbs were invented in the 19th century, hot on the heels of Franklin’s discovering electricity in the 18th. There were candles since time immemorial, and gaslight inbetween.


14 posted on 03/22/2013 1:16:18 PM PDT by Tublecane
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To: Squawk 8888
On the evening of March 23, 1.3 billion people will go without light at 8:30

Hogwash. On the evening of March 23, 2,000 kooks will go without light at 8:30 . There, fixed.

15 posted on 03/22/2013 1:16:19 PM PDT by aimhigh ( Guns do not kill people. Abortion kills people.)
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To: Squawk 8888

I’ll do my part by not using the oven and instead firing off my charcoal grill!


16 posted on 03/22/2013 1:18:37 PM PDT by AU72
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To: b4its2late
I'm ready to go:


17 posted on 03/22/2013 1:20:14 PM PDT by nascarnation (Baraq's economic policy: trickle up poverty)
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To: Squawk 8888

Not me .. I’m turing on all my lights .. I always do.

Hey, I’m not stupid .. I have helicopters that regularly fly over my house (at very low altitudes) .. I don’t want to take any chances. I’m on the glide path to the local airport where the police and medivacs park their aircraft.


18 posted on 03/22/2013 1:25:05 PM PDT by CyberAnt ("America is the greatest nation on the face of the earth" (in spite of BO))
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To: nascarnation

The IM 230 is nice, wouldn’t mind having one, but we don’t do much MIG welding. We do have a few tools to use:

Dialarc 250
Syncrowave 250
Thermal Arc 161 STL
Lincoln SP-175 +
Lincoln AC180C
Victor & Smith O/A torches
Miller spot welder


19 posted on 03/22/2013 1:31:15 PM PDT by USMCPOP (Father of LCpl. Karl Linn, KIA 1/26/2005 Al Haqlaniyah, Iraq)
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To: USMCPOP

Yeah Hobart is the budget div of Miller.
My B-I-L used to be a sales rep for them.

For amateurs it’s fine.


20 posted on 03/22/2013 1:33:08 PM PDT by nascarnation (Baraq's economic policy: trickle up poverty)
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