its not a gimmick.
i love it how people find themselves so put out by others taking part in a cool event...
people who want to fight about global warming are just looking for an excuse for their irresponsibility.
am i saying you need to "believe" in global warming? no.
i'm saying maybe you should take a look around at the smog and the pollution the dying seas and the stripped forests and fossil fuels and realise its not just about a political debate on whether or not the climate problem is our faults.
surely the plastic in the seas and the pollution in the skies aren't part of natural trends 10,000 years ago?
anyways, earth hour is growing and i hope it grows, they're not asking you to go out and plant trees or clean up oil spills, just have a good time and see what its like to turn out your lights for an hour :roll:
i guess this land is yours and this land is free otherwise, isn't it...
Don't get me wrong, I do believe in the fact that that climate change is happening. I'm not one of those conservative types who bury their heads in the sand.
It's just these big charity gestures just don't ever seem to amount to anything in the long term. All those big global charity events eg live aid, which was supposed to address African poverty, hasn't really done anything. African poverty is still there. (Not that I expected it to change overnight or anything but still.
Earth Hour came and went, everyone can pat themselves on the back and feel good they did "something" but we'll all forget about the next day/week or so until the next big charity gesture gets everyone going again, for a minute.
Your suggestion about going out and planting trees or clearing up oil spills is a good one. Maybe the governments of this world should be pushing for more change in our societies to make us do more active work in these areas, rather than just passively flicking a switch on and off.
"We have to change the concept of patriotism to one of “matriotism” — love of humanity that transcends war. A matriarch would never send her own children off to wars that kill other people’s children." Cindy Sheehan --- London, Brixton, 14 July 1993 London, Wembley, 1996 London, Wembley, 18 June 2007 London, O2, 18 August 2009 London, Hammersmith Apollo (Ed solo), 31 July 2012 Milton Keynes Bowl, 11 July 2014
London, Hammersmith Apollo (Ed solo), 06 June 2017
i love it how people find themselves so put out by others taking part in a cool event...
i think it's great if it actually raises awareness and perhaps makes people stop and think a little more about how their actions might impact the enviroment.
my old room mate was a crack up. last year she was all excited about participating and told everyone that they needed to get on it too. gotta love her for that. nothing changed though. next day she was back to normal. she still left every light on 24/7, never recycles, drives to do errands when it would take her 5 minutes to walk, does the laundy and thinks nothing of filling up the machine for just a few items. never switches off at the power when she's finished. just to name a few. i don't think she learnt very much
i think it's great if it actually raises awareness and perhaps makes people stop and think a little more about how their actions might impact the enviroment.
The whole concept of "raising awareness" when it comes to any one of these huge social issues whether it be climate change, or poverty, or cancer just seems ridiculous to me. I mean who out there is not aware of climate change but can be convinced about it by other people turning off their lights for an hour. The whole idea of raising awareness seems to have been thought up by people who wanted to look like they were actually doing something, but didn't want to make the effort to raise money or make an actual change in the world. It is like George Costanza giving out fake donations to "The Human Fund" at Christmas, it sure looks nice and makes him look generous and charitable, but he didn't actually do anything.
i think it's great if it actually raises awareness and perhaps makes people stop and think a little more about how their actions might impact the enviroment.
The whole concept of "raising awareness" when it comes to any one of these huge social issues whether it be climate change, or poverty, or cancer just seems ridiculous to me. I mean who out there is not aware of climate change but can be convinced about it by other people turning off their lights for an hour. The whole idea of raising awareness seems to have been thought up by people who wanted to look like they were actually doing something, but didn't want to make the effort to raise money or make an actual change in the world. It is like George Costanza giving out fake donations to "The Human Fund" at Christmas, it sure looks nice and makes him look generous and charitable, but he didn't actually do anything.
that was actually my point. hence the story of my room mate. now if she had participated and actually thought about why she was participating and made a conscious effort to change her ways, then that would have been a positive thing. yes?
clearly everyone has heard about climate change, but have they understood or cared about the consequences of inaction? maybe, just maybe, someone out there will make some positive changes if they are not already doing so, unlike my room mate.
my band played a big show at earth hour in st louis last year. it was held at busch stadium and there were about 800 people there or so. we played for about 90 minutes, then the mayor came and gave a speech, then the lights at busch stadium, the arch, one of the bridges across the mississippi river, and several of the prominent skyscrapers on the city skyline all went out. it was pretty cool to see all of these prominent landmarks go completely dark. i am sure that if people did not know what was going on they definitely noticed that the lights were out, so it did bring attention to the cause. at the event there were probably 50 different displays from green companies that demonstrated their products and how their products had very little impact on the environment. after the lights came back on we played for another hour and it was a really cool experience and i learned quite a bit from it. my favorite moment was learning how to drive segways and racing them.. we were going to play it again last night but we were already booked somewhere else...hopefully next year though.
"You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry." - Lincoln
Comments
Don't get me wrong, I do believe in the fact that that climate change is happening. I'm not one of those conservative types who bury their heads in the sand.
It's just these big charity gestures just don't ever seem to amount to anything in the long term. All those big global charity events eg live aid, which was supposed to address African poverty, hasn't really done anything. African poverty is still there. (Not that I expected it to change overnight or anything but still.
Earth Hour came and went, everyone can pat themselves on the back and feel good they did "something" but we'll all forget about the next day/week or so until the next big charity gesture gets everyone going again, for a minute.
Your suggestion about going out and planting trees or clearing up oil spills is a good one. Maybe the governments of this world should be pushing for more change in our societies to make us do more active work in these areas, rather than just passively flicking a switch on and off.
---
London, Brixton, 14 July 1993
London, Wembley, 1996
London, Wembley, 18 June 2007
London, O2, 18 August 2009
London, Hammersmith Apollo (Ed solo), 31 July 2012
Milton Keynes Bowl, 11 July 2014
my old room mate was a crack up. last year she was all excited about participating and told everyone that they needed to get on it too. gotta love her for that. nothing changed though. next day she was back to normal. she still left every light on 24/7, never recycles, drives to do errands when it would take her 5 minutes to walk, does the laundy and thinks nothing of filling up the machine for just a few items. never switches off at the power when she's finished. just to name a few. i don't think she learnt very much
The whole concept of "raising awareness" when it comes to any one of these huge social issues whether it be climate change, or poverty, or cancer just seems ridiculous to me. I mean who out there is not aware of climate change but can be convinced about it by other people turning off their lights for an hour. The whole idea of raising awareness seems to have been thought up by people who wanted to look like they were actually doing something, but didn't want to make the effort to raise money or make an actual change in the world. It is like George Costanza giving out fake donations to "The Human Fund" at Christmas, it sure looks nice and makes him look generous and charitable, but he didn't actually do anything.
clearly everyone has heard about climate change, but have they understood or cared about the consequences of inaction? maybe, just maybe, someone out there will make some positive changes if they are not already doing so, unlike my room mate.
hopefully.
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."