two things that may or may not be related

[arisha]

1) I am not a fan of Earth Hour because, in my opinion, it encourages people to feel like they are doing something to help the environment when they are not actually doing anything of the sort. I tend to dislike symbolic acts in general, but another reason I hold this opinion is because I spent my first Earth Hour sitting at work, listening to guests tell me that they'd been bored sitting at home with all the electronics off, so they got in their car and drove to the movie theatre. Wow, guys, you're a regular ol' Captain Planet over there!

2) I am very frustrated that we hear so much about the need to save energy and resources and everything like that, and yet just as many houses this year are decked out from top to bottom in Christmas lights. I am very frustrated that I can look out the window at four in the morning and see that these unnecessary lights have been left on all night.

Comments

[spakadoodle.livejournal.com]

I participate in Earth Hour, because to me it's a symbolic gesture of promising to change. When I first participated, it was because I wanted to change my energy-wasting ways.

This year we went out and bought new LED Christmas lights, which use tons less energy, to deck out our tree and front porch with (and they only stay on for a few hours, pretty much as long as the porch light stays on, as they're connected). There's a place around here that recycles the old lights, so we brought them there.

All the lights in the house have been switched for lower-energy bulbs. When our washer died we bought an HE front loader that uses way less water. We have two composters in the back yard and recycle far more than we ever throw out.

Earth Hour is good... but make every day count, as well!