<![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On - Gizmodo Comments]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On - Gizmodo Comments]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> Ok... purposely use more power and have to pay a higher bill? Horrible idea.

redrabbit

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> No thanks. Who shot the photo? It's neat.

TorkLugnutz

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> When did Giz readers start taking things so seriously!??? I think this was taking the other side of the argument as a JOKE. It also got you all talking, but do you seriously believe that they meant it??? Come on. If you believe that, I have a few moon acres left if you want to buy them...

ColdAsIce

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> Would the Internet die if all the computers where to be turned off in the world?

smeee

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> I fully agree with your astute observation about the economy. Regarding the science vs. policy however, I look at it like this: the motive to falsify global warming findings is present in the statement made by Christine Stewart (former Canadian Minister of the Environment): "No matter if the science of global warming is all phony… climate change provides the greatest opportunity to bring about justice and equality in the world." I'm quite sure her scientists on the payroll are paid to contrive data to support the "global warming" scare. And although I don't believe it to be in our best interests to use excessive energy, we as a nation of productivity will require more energy availability as time goes on. Since energy is a byproduct of the conversion of matter, we need to find more efficient ways to allow this conversion to take place; however, the underlying factor is that DoE and corporations want to continue to line their pockets at the expense of us, the consumers. Therefore, I believe money is the underlying factor, not helping our environment. Case in point: carbon credits. To purchase ($$$) more means that you can use more [energy]. How does this help the environment? To think that this money will go to an "environmental bank" that our ecosystem can drink from when it gets thirsty -- in my opinion, is ludicrous.

movado1999

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> Gee, I wonder how we got labeled as "stupid Americans" by the rest of the world. I think "retarded Americans" might be more appropriate.

NachoBoy

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> And so goes the use of free speech. It is interesting how people will only deal with other peoples ideas as long as they agree with their own. I suggest readers and editors look at this article as a very successful discussion about a subject that will not soon go away (unlike closed minded readers). We all have choices and decisions to make and this type of suggestion and discussion only helps us to make those decisions. Keep it free and open minded ...oh and don't forget to read tomorrow about the "impact" of the demonstration earlier tonight ...I bet the dinosaurs would've come back if everyone had done it!

Bachblast

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> can we have john biggs and joel johnson back please?

nbenko

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> Man, so many people take this initiative to ridiculous extremes to try support them not doing it. Obviously police forces, hospitals and the like would keep their power on; obviously major companies like Google wouldn't comply. That's not the point, though. They're just making a request, and as a result of their good-natured request, they're catching all this flak. Sheesh. Either turn your shit off or not, but don't bash the people for trying to conserve energy.

Blah8

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> ROFLMFAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When i read you put take out every gadget you own and shove it in a socket and turn it on made me laugh pretty hard.
That was funny. You guys truly rock and thats why people think you're childish but idc what they have to say this site is funny and probably the only one on the internet or if not one of the few billion+ sites that are on the web that actually put to do that.
LMAO! hilarious.

SneakerFiend

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> who cares about what Al Gore says... it's still a cool idea to turn the lights off... stop being a bunch of uptight lame ass geek losers...

Kruge

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> I'm a fan of immature, snarky geek humor but this is an ignorant and irresponsible post. I chose Gizmodo over Endgadget when culling my RSS feeds and now I've realized I made a mistake. Bye.

rnv123

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> @unique172: Amen, brothrt, wellsaid.

SpeedyGonzalas

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> I don't disagree with a word in that quote from your bio book.

That doesn't change the fact that global warming is a giant load of steaming bullshit.

drewls

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> A good quote from my bio book I found appropriate:

"If organisms have continually changed the nature of Earth's ecosystems, and if humans have been exterminating species for thousands of years, why should we worry about the changes humans are causing today? Life survived those changes. Indeed, both the productivity and richness of Earth's biota has increased during the long course of life's evolution. But, although a long-term historical perspective might lead us to be complacent about today's human-caused changes, the current situation is unique. For the first time in history, all the major environmental changes are being caused by a single species. Unlike all previous ecosystems engineers, we are aware of what we are doing. If we deliberately or inadvertently exterminate a species, we have irreversibly destroyed a potentially valuable resource."

Something to think about for those self-righteous pricks who can think only of what will benefit themselves.

jhuang

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> I don't know if Google's annoying black page will do much for the 'cause'. It's more likely that the brainwashed lemmings that will play along with this idiocy already knew about it beforehand.

Thanks to Google, now I won't forget to turn on as many things during that hour as I can think of. :D

drewls

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> Well, as for no one recognizing Earth Hour, Google has gotten into it, meaning that it's basically guaranteed to be a success now.

man in gauze is king ramses II, silly.

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> Don't worry. I'll be very understanding, while driving around my big ass 8cyl SUV with no other passengers just because I feel like it. I may even floor it when the light turns green just for shits and giggles. I'll even open the sunroof WITH the air conditioning on. w00t!

(omg I just got you angry)

drewls

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> I know that global warming is real (omg i just got u angry) but really, this is just hilarious. btw, USBman, get over it. people have different opinions! i know it is hard to understand.

mths

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> I can't wait until global-warming sinks Dubai!

ethanrik

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> After the sun goes down, without some means of artificial light, most of us would be left in the dark.

nospamsam

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> How old are you people? Who still uses the word "hippies"?

Kruge

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> You know, I totally down with the idea..I try it usually about once a week. Everytime I do I end up trippin' the main breaker in my house. :(

dzazter

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> Irony or elitism? They want everyone else to turn things off while the 'high and mighty' elites use their computers and fly around on private jets. Why? Because they 'spread awareness' to the unwashed masses.

Global warming has all of the makings of a religion.

It has saints: Al Bore and the people here posting on their computer to 'save the planet'.

It has sinners: The rest of us who don't believe their phony non-scientific nonsense. People who drive SUV's. Oil companies. People who live their lives normally. People who have children and like to live in larger dwellings than mom's basement.

It requires faith: You have to have an incredible amount of faith to even come close to believing that a bunch of numbskulls who can't tell you whether or not it's going to snow next Tuesday can tell you what the temperature on the planet will be in 200 years. It also requires you to ignore significant evidence that global warming is a fraud, while relying on your faith to drown out the 'deniers'.

It has a heaven: Imagine all the people...living in the 1700's with horse crap in the streets. Oh yea, and also imagine the one world government with a wonderful totalitarian dictator at the helm. It's okay though, the totalitarian dictator believes in being 'carbon neutral', so everything else they do is excused. It doesn't matter anyway, since government will have taken away everything from your right to choose the size of your house to the right to decide how many children you can have, to the kind of car you can drive all in the name of 'saving the planet'.

It has a hell: A world where people are free to make their own decisions. A world with free markets. A world where the government doesn't dictate everyone's life to them.

Global warming is nothing but an excuse for larger and larger government restricting the rights of citizens. The more people that wake up and realize that, the better off we'll be.

drewls

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> looks like terrorist have a one hour window to cause havoc...

mricyfire

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> Irony - Hippies arguing about power consumption on a computer for three hours.

Amsterdaam

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> Congrats, this is the post that made me realize I'm too old to be reading this childish shit. Tongue in cheek or not. Earth hour is starting early for me, it's probably time to read a book.

crycry

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> @apeguero: This one is my favorite so far: "i'm gonna turn on everything i own, that way there's now way in hell i'll miss that Larry the Cable Guy special!" And then, directly after he talks about wasting all those fossil fuels, he claims he's all for alternative energy. Genius.

futonhead

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> To me it doesn't matter if its real or not, climate is happening is happening, we are polluting too much etc.

What we need is real action and less of these infuriating PR stunts, Live Earth anyone?

To all the eco hippy idiots, try putting your efforts into making the big polluters (China, US and India) into using more renewable energy and less black smog producing power plants.

Turning off our lights etc for an hour is going to do jack, don't bring up "awareness," since lets face it who doesn't know about it nowadays?

As for me I will carry on playing games and using my computer at the same time since I don't drive a car or use a plane a lot I consider myself extempt from creating a huge "carbon footprint".

It's a shame the Climate Change issue is becoming the new fad replacing "world hunger," and "anti-communism."

Eothein

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> heaters and air conditioners on? wow, ya this post is depressing, you people don't know how good we have it here in this country (USA).... gizmodo has gone down hill recently especially with posts about pube grooming kits, Microsoft commercials and .99 blue tooth handsets. AND you guys actually think you had it in the running for best gadget blog?

PiOnMe

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> It's funny to hear you speaking all the time about "they", when you don't even have a chance of know who are you talking about. Typical US.

Everything on earth is finite, and if you waste the resources, sadly yours and everyone else's, all us, the entire world population, are going to end digging searching for roots in our gardens.

You still think that the electricity cames from the "magic wall socket" and that your president (sigh) can make appear fuel on the gas station hose forever.

Please don't get mad about other people switching of their lights, it's just that they are able to think by their own instead of watching to believe the all knowing box (yeah, right, you did it, i was talking about tv).
SPAIN.

HairDryerMart

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> The people here who are serious about turning on all their electronics to stick it to the "hippies" are idiots. Putting aside the climate change issue, all this effort to waste energy simply to spite Al Gore and his "hippies" is only going to result in you wasting your own money, putting more money into the pockets of the electrical companies, and putting more pollution in the air. I don't know about you, but smog is not something I enjoy breathing into my lungs.

You don't have to turn every single electronic off. Just turn off any unnecessary electronics. That's what my electrical company is advertising.

Why should you? Why not?
Why not try and save energy? You'll save money in the process. Why not recycle? Things made from recyclables are cheaper. Why not try and find alternative ways to power our electronics and cars? The cost of oil continues to increase. It'll be better for the air and you'll save a lot more money on fuel in the long run.

What ever happened to the saying "better safe than sorry?" If the dangers of climate change aren't real then that's great, but you'll still have pollution to deal with. Do you really want your children to live in a world where they have to wear silly masks whenever they go outside like many in China already do?

But if the dangers of climate change do turn out to be real then humans are screwed. The Earth is our home and the only one we have. Why would you want to purposely damage your own home? There is no other planet that we can magically make habitable for a few billion people and animals in only a couple dozen years.

C'mon guys, even if you don't believe in global warming, there are still other reprocussions from wasting energy. The main reprocussion being saving money, and I'm pretty sure money's important to most people.


wildfire759

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> It blows my mind that people can sincerely state "anthropogenic global warming is BS" because of some random collection of dubious facts they got out of a right-wing echo chamber... and have a receptive audience on this blog agreeing with them!

The scientific consensus means something. If your UN black helicopter fears make you distrust the IPCC, then listen to the American Meteorological Society, the American Geophysical Union, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science(article with links) or dozens of other national academies of science. Those oh-so-brave renegade scientists who don't actually have a functioning climate model of their own but find fault with some aspect of the theory or data, that then gets misquoted and endlessly amplified, are VERY LIKELY WRONG and/or their pet counter-effect is tiny.

If it makes you happy to think there's a chance the effects of AGW won't be so bad, OK, but it's a damn slim chance. Even if the undeniable human-caused increase in CO2 and other greenhouse gases isn't the primary cause of the undeniable increase in global mean temperature despite the basic undeniable physical principle, then what happens as their levels keep rising because 6+ billion people spew out even more greenhouse gases?

These posts are invariably tied to some anti-Gore anti-environmentalist vitriol. I have NOT seen Al Gore's movie or read his book. If John McCain had come out with the movie, would we still have this level of pointless "Well I've looked into it and it's clear AGW is rubbish" posts?

To quickly refute some of the crap spouted in this thread, water vapor is indeed hugely significant but simply follows temperature (it doesn't force climate change), the 11-year solar cycle has gone down but it still got warmer, and one or two cold years don't make the theory fall apart. [en.wikipedia.org] discusses these and other controversies. Sure there are controversies around the edges. But again, you're a fool to bet against the consensus.

skierpage

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> A restaurant / bar I was in turned off all it's lights for Earth Hour tonight, they had candles there instead. There was a big up roar from one side of the bar though when they turned off the giant TV in the middle of a sports game though... lol!

TailsNZ

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> Wow Gizmodo, way to stick it to people trying to encourage the masses to consider their impact on the environment. You're so funny/awesome...

davethebutcher

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> @Seiven:

dude, citing fox news as a credible news source?

Rookie mistake...hate to see it happen.

NeoAkira

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> @innout3x3: OWB, Google is black! "We've turned the lights out. Now it's your turn - Earth Hour."

tobedetermined

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> i don't believe on that one day will make the difference, instead i just do what i do, turn the switch off went i don't need the light on and use florescent bulbs but thats mostly because saves money

cesarin12003

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> @USBman: I think the author simply might be pulling our collective legs.

yogibimbi

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> @Canoehead: H2O is also a completely natural molecule, but if you are 10 foot deep sitting in it with your foot chained to a 1 ton concrete block, it is also not very healthy;-)

and, BTW: NOx are also completely natural, NO is a neurotransmitter, gets your hearbeat down and, in conjunction with those blue party pills allows you to get your Johnson up and keep it up, so it can't be all that bad. I am too tired now to remember who said this (might have been Paracelsus, come to think of it) but some smart person said (mildly paraphrased and adapted), 'it's not the substance that makes the poison, but the quantity'; and every substance is 'natural', just the amounts we're throwing around are pretty much not.

yogibimbi

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> @wilsonma29: My point was, it would be better to attack things that actually have a measurable impact than the illusive and ubiquitous CO2 mollecule. That $10bil would be a drop in the bucket compared to the massive damage to the economy that would be done by a "serious" carbon emmissions regime - which would not clean up the sky anyway. Besides, that same new technology would also end up being used here in the US as well, to the benfit of local breathers.

Real pollution in Asia is a real problem - they are industrializing very rapidly, but there are a lot more of them then there were of us during our industrial revolution - and London as recently as the 1950s was a toxic soup that put L.A. to shame. If we are trying to have a better global environment, lets find the places where the least cash will have the most impact. Squeezing industries in North America and Europe so that they move to unregulated China is not the way to go - it makes absolutely no sense, doesn't change global carbon output (assuming you care about that) and will put the final nail into the coffin of first world manufacturing - all it does is satisfy the moral vanity of the Grebot set. Remember, Maurice Strong, key architect of Kyoto is very heavily invested in Chinese energy - as is his [former] employer, Power Corp.

Canoehead

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> ay, folks, grow up. This was just supposed to be symbolic. I mean, with global warming being shoved up our asses at every occasion it is somewhat hard to miss these days, so I think switching off your gadgets for an hour and create maybe a 1% dent in power usage if EVERY private gadget owner did it, will create more annoyance than awareness.
That said, I am still sceptical that all the effects on the climate we see nowadays are caused by humans. Climate changes, and our knowledge about this is still rather limited, to say the least.
HOWEVER: Burning up fossils from out of the ground that have taken millions of years to become what they are now is simply a pretty stupid move and saving energy wherever possible and using regenerative energies as much as possible is what everybody with a brain between his or her ears should do. For the others it will be simple market darwinism: if the barrel of crude costs, say, 1000 bucks, you can laugh all you want about us hippies with solar panels on our roofs, but we won't hear it because your wailing about having to part with 100 Washingtons just to get some burgers from the drive-in will be so much louder.
A brain is simply a complex simulator that allows you to take action before the consequences kick your precious butt. If you like to put your hands on a red-hot stove because you think you know better, be my guest.

yogibimbi

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> @USBman

Giz has cost itself my readership as well. Whether global warming is real, caused by us, or is merely a scheme cooked up by rabid dogs in spacesuits, mocking those who are doing nothing but practicing moderation with a mind toward helping future generations is sad and despicable.

unique172

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> I am very disappointed with you Gizmodo. You have a very good taste when it come to gadgets, but your supposedly "funny" comments often turn out to be rather retarded. Stick to what you do best and stay clear of the more complicated stuff. Extremist political views and bad taste in humor will alienate a lot of readers. There are many other good technology blogs out there, and I for my part prefer the fun and intelligent to boring and juvenile extremism.

PAIX

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> @Canoehead: I'd rather spend $10bil developing cleaner coal technology and give it to the Chinese gratis than try to implement some kind of stupid carbon-trading regime here in North America.

Shall we start with your yearly salary? LOL

Unfortunately, things are never simple as much as we would like them to be.

Sadly, that $10 billion will not be found anywhere except in the taxpayer's pocket because the government has such a stellar track record in cutting waste out of their spending. People already complain that they pay too much in taxes and taking any more from them so a foreign country will directly benefit will lead to revolt.

It is bad enough that people are becoming suspicious of the Fed bailout of Bear Stearns where if the BSC mortgage backed securities turn out to be almost worthless, JPMorgan will not be footing the bill; it will be the US taxpayer to the tune of $30 billion.

As I said before, there are consequences to every action. The ugly truth is that if China is forced to retool with new technology then it will most certainly pass on those conversion costs to the end consumer. Guess which country consumes a lot of cheap Chinese products? You got it. A lot of lower income people rely on cheap Chinese goods to help make ends meet. It is bad enough that inflation is trending up while the US dollar is trending down.

Most of the readers here are not trying to figure out how to keep a roof over their heads or food on the table. Most of us have discretionary funds to toy around with gadgets but try to put yourself in someone else's shoes (not including movie stars and Wall St power brokers who can afford $10,000 bespoke suits and $3000 custom made shoes).

Certainly there are cleaner coal fired power plants in the US but their use even in this country is not ubiquitous. The government is doing very little to help our power producers make the switch so why should they help a foreign country?

I agree that we should not focus on CO2 but neither should we ignore it. SO2 has decreased 33% in the US from the acid rain days of the 70s and I do not think a lot of people would argue that it killed the economy.

The main source of SO2 and NO2 is the burning of fossil fuels (coal, petroleum and natural gas). Since a great deal of the electricity generated in the US comes from thermal power plants if we curb our electricity usage then that will affect the production of SO2 and NO2. Homes are heated by oil, natural gas and electricity (from fossil fuels) and a reduction of energy in heating homes will also help. Thankfully with the advent of the catalytic converter, SO2 production from gas powered vehicles has decreased by it has not gone to zero. NO2 is still a problem with gas powered vehicles. Good luck trying to convince people to drive more efficient vehicles, drive less, carpool, use public transit, etc.

I am not giving China or India a free pass but how can we expect others to follow if we make a feeble attempt at cleaning our own house first?

wilsonma29

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> No one tells me to do anything... Thats includes you telling me to leave the lights on...

Kruge

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> wow. this post is retarded. i don't care if global warming is or isn't real, but everyone can agree that having a substantial amount of people turn off all of their gadgets for one hour is good on the environment. Why the hell would you encourage people to turn on ALL of their gadgets? To waste power and energy and further pollute the environment? I'm not a tree hugger or a hippie but I just think that ENCOURAGING people to go against a movement that is supposed to HELP the environment is the stupidest thing I've ever heard of. And this, being my first time on the site, does not encourage me to come back.

cboy007

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> Sex is better with the lights on. Especially when there are a bunch of jackasses telling you that you're 'supposed' to have the lights off.

drewls

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> I have no problem turning off the lights and having sex... oh wait, this is a geek site, no one here gets laid...

Kruge

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> Why the hell is the World Wrestling Federation sponsoring this?

:/

notnb

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> Let me know when the next time they hold one at 4am on a Tuesday. I'll be happy to help save the world.

Hello_Newman

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> @tanvach:

There isn't a single actual fact in your list of facts.

drewls

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> I will agree with Al Gore on one thing: Global Warming is more dangerous than terrorism. At least, the 'solutions' to the 'problem' are.

Global Warming is nothing more than an excuse for the government to regulate everything in our lives, from the size of the houses we live in, to the number of children we are 'allowed' to have to the kinds of cars we're allowed to drive.

In that respect, Global Warming is a far more dangerous threat to our freedom than anything else.

Here's hoping we can nip these 'solutions' in the bud. It doesn't look good, since the presidential candidates of both parties are in bed with this nonsense.

drewls

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> Some facts:

1) If you lessen the demand on the electricity grid, the torque on the generator (which has to spin at exactly 60Hz if you're in the US) is decreased, thus you need less fuel to supply the power output.

2) Global warming is currently universally accepted as a real phenomenon in scientific community. There will always be some people who believe it's not real, usually out of personal believe, but the evidence is conclusive. If you disagree, have a read ([en.wikipedia.org]).

3) Kyoto protocol is only there to kick start the CO2 reduction initiatives. The reason for the carbon credits is due to some industrialised countries will never sign an agreement which is more restrictive (thus a better chance of a beneficial decrease in CO2).

4) Failed cropping will be the main mode that will effect the civilisation. Expect an increase in war and terrorism as countries with increasingly difficult climate fight for more natural resources.

5) The increasing population will make everything worse.

tanvach

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> @prix: "I dont care about any of the reasons. I just want to be able to see the stars in the city"

I'm with you there dude - but if we cripple our economy chasing the little invisible, odorless and totally natural CO2 molecule, we'll have a lot less time, energy and $$ to devote to reducing NO2, SO2 and a bunch of other nasty pollutants that verifiably hurt human and animal health, kill fish, ugly up the sky etc. That's one reason why this insance focus on CO2 is so awful - we are worried about my carbon fooprint while China and India (exempt under Kyoto) are burning every smelly thing in sight. I'd rather spend $10bil developing cleaner coal technology and give it to the Chinese gratis than try to implement some kind of stupid carbon-trading regime here in North America. At least with my scheme we know the costs up front and the benefits will be rapidly visible - from the streets and from space.

Canoehead

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> @shalto: Good luck with that.

strider_mt2k

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> @shalto:

LOL@ "eco hate". You're a brainwashed moron. Engadget will welcome you with open arms. Come back when you wake up from the matrix.

drewls

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> @Seiven: Well said. And Adrian...why turn on all gadgets from 9-10? We need to do it at the same time the lights are "off" to offset the energy savings.

But on a serious note...global warming is simply incorrect, it is known that the temperature of Earth flutuates greatly over time, If I recall correctly a show on the Discovery Channel said that global warming has caused the temperature of the Earth to increase 1 degree in the past 100 years, which I see as pretty much insignificant exspecially considering temperature readings were hardly accuate 100 years ago and the temperature of Earth has flucuated much more than that (think current climate vs. ice age)

ab3

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> think of the power surge when 9pm hits.. HAHA!

shift_nismo

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> I seriously can't believe im reading all this eco hate on gizmodo. nobody is demanding that gadgets be turned off. They are just requesting you turn off your devices and that is not out of line and im appalled that this what i believed to be liberal comment group is so eco-unfriendly. I am with USBman on this when i say fuck you gizmodo. I have admired this blog for 3 years now and i have lost all respect for it. Hello engadget goodbye gizmodo.

shalto

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> One last thought. When was the last time you were in Beijing? Have you ever had to breathe in that street level smog that can be so thick that you are lucky to see a few blocks ahead?

I have and it's foul. Most definitely foul.

wilsonma29

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> Gizmodo is lame.

devilonsteroids

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> I bet the amplifiers get really loud tomorrow night at the concert I'm going to when there's a sudden rush of extra current available for the amplifiers. It's gonna be sweet. Too bad it won't be the Who playing.

GiltProto

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> @thedarkhorse: The carbon tax/emission credits is focused on corporations and not on individuals at this point in time. Certainly, in the initial phase, governments would get a boost of money during the auctioning of the credits but the end game is to have these credits in the free market where they are tradeable between companies just like any other commodity. The point of the scheme is to transfer money from those companies that pollute more to those that pollute less. In time, it is in the interest of companies to pollute less because their bottom line is affected adversely by direct competitors that will be more efficient. It is about efficiency. Of course, some would argue that governments are interfering but I think that if they set up the scheme correctly and let it run by itself like a regular free market then it is not any worse than any commodity exchange.

Individual carbon credit schemes that are making the rounds are quite dubious at best because they are all voluntary and is really about making someone feel better about themselves. It does very little to curb waste and inefficiency. There is no free market trading of credits as there is with corporations so there is no real incentive for someone to cut waste and improve efficiency. Logistically, it is very hard to measure the carbon footprint of an individual let alone a LOT of individuals.

I do not think any of us is qualified to say whether warming is the result of CO2 or the other way around. Just because we say one way or the other is meaningless because it does not make it any more true or false if we did.

There was mention about carbon emissions going back 100-200 years and causing global warming. People seem to conveniently forget the Industrial Revolution which ran from 1750 to about 1900. That is certainly 100-200 years ago and was dirty, very, very dirty. If it is true that global warming lags carbon emissions then we are only feeling the effects of that period today and that we have yet to feel the effects of the 20th century. Not that any of us will be around in 100-200 years. Please note that I am not saying that emissions cause warming or the other way around. I am just saying that there was events in the past 200 years that *may* explain the warming that we are seeing at this point in time.

Do I believe in global warming/climate change? I certainly lean in that direction. The science is inexact and the evidence is not ironclad and often dodgy. However, I do not honestly see the harm in being mindful of the environment. There is nothing free in this world and every action and everything has a consequence for good or bad.

wilsonma29

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> @berribrand: Them first then, as they are using far more energy than I am and get far more breaks doing it.

When I'm using power I'm actually using it, not just keeping the corporate campus lit after hours.

I use CF bulbs, turn off all kinds of crap, insulate my home out the wazoo and still the impetus is on ME?

They can bite it and get to chewin'.

strider_mt2k

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> If computer models can't accurately tell me it's going to rain next weekend, I'm pretty sure they can't be trusted to predict something far more complex decades from now.

I'm all for conservation for conservations sake, but all you parishioners at the church of climate change really need to start thinking more critically.

If someone told you tomorrow that there was scientific proof that global temperature increase was caused by increased solar activity would you be wanting to send rockets into space to build a big umbrella?

All you fans of An Inconvenient Truth should go find a little documentary, called The Great Global Warming Swindle. If you watch it with an open mind it might just enlighten you a bit.

HollywoodBob

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> Can't we all get along????.........***snicker***

CountryDevil

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> So, you've been presented with two options...

1. Switch things off for an hour. You definitely save money and if global warming is real, you may make a small difference. If it's not real, you make no difference. Net result: you win.

2. Switch EVERYTHING on for an hour. You definitely lose money and if global warming is real you may do a little damage. If it's not real, you make no difference. Net result: you lose.

If anyone knew that you were deliberately turning everything on for an hour you would, at best, look like a slightly anti-social twat. Fortunately for you, no one will know. Knock yourselves out...

scuba_steve

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> I dont care about any of the reasons. I just want to be able to see the stars in the city

prix

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> the globe stopped "warming" 10 years ago. If co2 causes warming and it continues to be pumped into the atmosphere more now then any time in our history then shouldn't the globe Still be warming?
The "science" is wrong.

Al Gore lied right to everyones face with that big ass chart in his movie, sure it looks like rising temperatures correspond to rising co2. But his chart was looking at millions of years, you can't really see the details on an average like that. You zoom in on the real data and you can see the truth, CO2 levels did rise, but not until 100-200 years AFTER warming occured.
Are you gonna tell me all this carbon went back in time 100-200 years and caused the earth to get warmer? Or are you gonna clue into reality and see that Rising CO2 is a RESULT of the earth Warming and not a CAUSE.
Which is why carbon tax is bull and its just another scam to scare the tax paying public into forking over more money.

thedarkhorse

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> Global warming is NOT real. Global climate change is real. Happens all the time throughout history. Man has little to do with it. The current focus on CO2 is complete BS. We should be focusing more on Water Vapor which is the most prevalent greenhouse gas on this planet. Unfortunately nobody's computer model is good enough to model the effects of water vapor on temperature, so they tweak their models to give more weight to CO2 in order to prove their stupid theories about global warming. (Don't forget that most scientific grants are given to people doing popular research.) The focus on CO2 credits is a money making scheme; buy, sell, fear, uncertainty, doubt. Computer models can't predict the weather 3 days in advance, how do you expect it to be valid after 100 years? FUD

PridgNYC

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> WANTED: Posters with sense of humor still in tact. MORE WANTED: Posters who excel at sarcasm combined with the love of anything that plugs in, lights up, and makes noise. LET THERE BE LIGHT - and I ain't talkin the room illuminating kind....

sgrmba

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> I'm so sick of global warming now. The chairman of the EPA has officially told congress that they won't be considering regulating CO2 emissions because I guess they finally couldn't handle all of their own b/s.

Good things to remember: CO2 levels are highest in recorded history, temperature is not anywhere near close.

Ice caps have melted before, humans didn't perish.

Some ice shelves float in the ocean, when and if they melt, the sea level wont rise due to ice taking up the volume of water equal to their mass.

sisedi

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> @m4ximusprim3: Good luck!

Running with m4ximusprim3's use of this event, we can actually look forward 9 months to when a sudden rash of new energy-glutton babies are born! woohoo!

Fzzt

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> @porschedevotee:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Everyone's 'short-sighted' because they can see through nonsense propaganda.

If only you weren't so short-sighted with regards to recent history, so you'd know how full of crap the global warming propagandists are.

But you keep on trucking. Keep on ignoring the giant flaming gasball in the sky while listening to the giant flaming gasball AlGore.

drewls

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> @ Gizmodo: Since I do have fully functional senses of humor and irony as well, I'm going to cut you some slack and assume you meant this tongue-in-cheek. However, in the future, you may want to consider that some of your readers/commenters (read: apparently most of them) take what you're saying completely literally and will use that to justify their own less-than-well-thought-through actions. It's always hard to be the role model, innit?

porschedevotee

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> I'm with ya Adrian! I'll even go out and turn both my 8cyl SUVs on in the driveway for a couple hours. :D

drewls

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> Wow. A lot of very rash, short-sighted opinions in these comments. The voices of those who are concerned for future generations (and those of us who are still young enough to see far-reaching effects of our actions) are few and far between. To those of you who have the guts to stand against the onslaught of commenters who say they are going to turn on every appliance in the house, I salute you. For all those of you who said you would do just that, are you not in any way concerned about what we are doing to our planet? Whether you believe climate change is a real phenomenon or not, isn't it better to err on the side that DOESN'T kill everybody? I can't understand why you think it would be infinitely better not to have any more Katrinas or disappearing honeybees or insane increases in the number of tornadoes, or any of the other phemonena being attributed to climate change. I'm not saying that not using any electricity for a single hour is going to change that - it's just to increase public awareness, kind of like how the Tesla is not supposed to be marketed to the average American, but it's definitely bringing widespread attention to the electric vehicle forefront.

There are four choices here. Global Warming Is Real (GWIR), Global Warming Is Fake (GWIF), Do Something (DS), and Do Nothing (DN). Results?

GWIF, DS = look like a tool. Save some money on energy-saving appliances and living techniques.
GWIF, DN = nothing. Carry on.
GWIR, DS = hooray, crisis averted!
GWIR, DN = death.

Given the outcomes, shouldn't our actions be pretty clear?

porschedevotee

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> Real scientists don't cite "concensus" to prove that they are right, they cite rigorously undertaken expirements. No real scientist has to yell "the debate is over" in order to shut down a counter-argument. Real scientists welcome a good argument so they can prove the other guy wrong. Real scientific reports don't pump up their stats by relentlessly including the names of scientists who don't agree with the conclusions and have repeatedly asked to have those names removed.

Real scientists don't name call people who genuinely disagree with them, calling them the moral equivalents of holocaust deniers and try to get them fired.

Frankly I don't have the training or the IQ to know what the truth is, but I know that I have a very visceral reaction to the thuggish tactics of teh Goracle-Suzuki crowd. I also cannot understand how you can try to predict climate while (1) assuming that the atmosphere is infinetly thick and (2) ignoring the effects of the sun.

Canoehead

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> Everyone is turning off their electricities? Finally I will have enough power to run my supercomputer and play Crysis!

jtwesley17

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> So How do we know what time it is if we turn EVERYTHING ELECTRICAL OFF?

and the generators will be making electricity even if we turn everything off so..
lol

minjae

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> @myusuf05: ...Wow - really?! Thanks for the constructive criticism. I'm glad to see you really thought this one through.

...and if *I* may offer you some constructive criticism, I'd suggest you learn some grammar! "Your a cry baby" No. Try, something like "You're." Talk to me again once you finish your GED. Keep trying - you'll get it one day!

USBman

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> LOL looting and chaos!

yay it's happy hour all over again!

Akmed

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> @elint6: thank you, I was just going to say that.

DrifterTypeR

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> @USBman your a cry baby its a joke, probably april fools early!

Mahdi Yusuf

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> @elint6: Emissions credits aren't a bad idea in theory. However, if you have followed the EU's attempt at using emission credits then you will know they failed quite horribly in their first attempt.

The point of emission credits is that they would obtain a monetary value (like any other commodity) and that companies would have to pay a premium to purchase more credits from those who have surplus credits. That would reward those who are green by given them money and penalise those who aren't green by taking away money.

However, the EU handed out credits hand over fist that their value was completely diluted and has done very little to cut down on emissions. Only when the supply of credits is tighter will the value of the credits rise and really help control emissions and hopefully decrease them over time.

wilsonma29

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> While I agree with your love of gadgetry, I cannot disagree more with statements like those made in this post. Such acts are simply unconscionable.

In writing such a condemnable post, the author has demonstrated that he is utterly unconcerned about the potential consequences of such actions and he has shown his pettiness and overwhelming ignorance.

Looking at the vast number of comments, I'd estimate that there are many strong feelings about this topic - on both sides of the fence. While I agree that there are many groups out there that have somehow lost touch with what is feasible and what is not, please, everyone, consider how truly short sighted and arrogant such ideas truly are.

So, Adrian Covert, your juvenile outburst has forever cost Gizmodo this otherwise faithful reader. I genuinely hope you take a moment and consider the weight of statements like those you've just made and how truly distasteful they are. Shame on you.

Oh, and do not EVER insinuate that taking pride in doing an honorable thing is somehow "Un-American." That we simply *have* the opportunity to consider such things (and many other things) is what makes America so fantastic.

(P.S. - Editors of Gizmodo, please carefully consider if you want such a reckless and irresponsible writer on your staff. He has advocated loathsome behavior and brought disgrace to your site. ...oh, and forever cost you this reader.)

USBman

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> @Falconfire: I understand how one could be suspicious of the science when the 'labels' keep changing. The problem is not really global *warming or *cooling, a more proper term would actually be 'rapid global climate' change.

I wasn't there, so I can't vouch for the science of the 50's, but I can tell you that TODAY, with the significant advance in science over previous predictions, an overwhelming majority of scientists agree that global warming is REAL. That doesn't mean they all agree, but most of them- and the most credible of them- do.

See that's the great thing about science, it is constantly being tested and retested. It doesn't guarantee you the truth, but if it ain't the truth we will know to correct it. So we are sorry if we had it wrong before, and we can't promise we are right this time, but we are telling you now- you can't ignore this. The risk is too high.

DrifterTypeR

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> hey, i agree with the post! Its pointless, but dont go pluggin in all your appliances, if enough people do the earth hour it could surge, your appliances are torched, esp. in small towns!

plus some damn fool thinks he can get gizmodo blocked off digg

[digg.com]

Mahdi Yusuf

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> Fuck'em. I'm turning on all my lights, PCs, hair driers, electric ovens, Washer and Dryer, Dishwasher, and I'm going to turn off the power saving features on my PCs and printers for that hour. I'll also turn on my car, minivan, and SUV and leave them idling for a fucking hour. There's no global warming. It's been the coldest and snowiest winter ever and these nut jobs still think there's global warming? Weather is cyclical! We're long overdue for an ice ace.

I'm all for alternative energy only because we're running out of oil and gas prices are too high. We need more vehicles like: [www.theaircar.com] which do nothing to air and also use the most abundant of all recyclable energy. Shutting off my lights for an hour for global warming? BLAH!

apeguero

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> The USA is different to the UK in many ways but one of the main things that any Brit visiting a US city notices is that you go overboard with the lights. They look "pertty" and cool but the amount of electricity wasted must be huge! + why do "mainly" (not all) Americans believe that global warming is fake. Also I feel I need not have bothered to avoid insulting Americans as there are far too many comments being made for mine to be noticed. SCOTLAND

Scotland

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> Hell yeah! time for that old fridge that consumes thousands of dollars in electricity to turn on and cool down some stuff!

Mike918

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> @berribrand

...as to kids...we really don't care much for them, but we do hope many of them grow up, work hard, and contribute to and slow the exhaustion of the Social Security system :-)

RainyDayInterns

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> Totally turning my gadgets all on all day tomorrow in celebration of "Gadgets are awesome day"

awesomerobot

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> I'll be watching two TV's while surfing the internet on two computers as I am listening to the radio with all the lights on.

Triborough

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> Screw the WWF.

Any group that'd make John Cena their champion has no right to tell me how to use energy.

:p

HeartBurnKid, creepy morbid freak

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> @berribrand

Our point is directed to those who think Global Warming is not real. Nature does CARE whether we believe it is real or not...so if we stick our heads in the sand and say it's not real, other species (those who can survive the change) will take our place...assuming humans can't survive the change.

However, NOT all changes are bad. Something (meteor?) made it so dinosaurs died out and smaller mammals evolved. It is not realistic to try to maintain a static environment..or even a balanced one. It is more useful to understand how to manage the change.

If we have a 100 billion people on the earth, does anyone seriously expect that things can stay the way they are today?

RainyDayInterns

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> if only theres was some way to harness the power of the sun and and and....kill all the hippies

someone call up zod and lex luther

rezin khanz

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> @Giz -1 for being trying too hard to be anti-anything-that-makes-you-look-cool.

@Seiven: The world is also run by loud, opinionated know-it-alls with no room in
their feeble minds for anything that might even slightly conflict with their own limited world view.

You may not want to stop global warming, but it would certainly do us all
some good if you'd personally stop spouting so much CO2.

Symbiotic

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> Not only will I plug in every gadget I own at 9-10... I'll even start an hour early!

RomeoDude

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> WOW, sorry for the terrible grammar. no time to fix it

dysthymia

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> I weep for humanity.

Monty

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> when we all turn our lights on at once, won't that just turn all the power off again?

eatmonkeygood

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> ah vegas.. i do so miss you..

gizmodo.. i LOVE you.. im SO gonna turn all my shit on!

go go gadget.. uhm.. EVERYTHING!

tgwaste

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> so, you pay for your energy. got it. This is optional, you can do it or not, its up to you. you want to believe global warming is like cake.. fake?. Again, its up to you. you will turn on all your devices to prove you are against this request, go for it.

But you will not prove nothing to no one, except you like to waste and over use energy driving the demand up and there fore making the pay rates to go up for everyone else and there is where I don't agree.

It is very likely that companies will not reduce the price of energy if we don't use it. yeah they are greedy bastards, and they will find every possible way to overcharge and make us pay more. But if we use more, for sure they will increase the price.

so putting aside the global warming talk, the economics of using more instead of less are very real and those affect me, you and everyone else. So, saying that you will use more energy for no good reason makes no sense to me. Anyway, it is time to go home. have a great weekend people.

dysthymia

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> I love you guys. Let there be light!

hanswurst0815

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> @unique172: I totally agree.

It's one thing to disagree and another thing entirely to be an asshole about it. This would be like dressing up like Hitler and running around a holocaust memorial kicking over flowers and whatnot. Classy guys, classy.

CatPope

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> @Seiven: Your a TOOL

jonthomasdesigns

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> i second that motion Giz! i will have all 3 of my game systems on, all my TVs and surround sound system on.

npa190

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> global warming is fake? geez, you must be totally retarded. we have had snow in sweden constantly every winter for over almost a century.. why no snow this year? global warming..

yeah you want to call it a fake because you are completely paranoid, i understand. but it's time to grow up and take responsability dude..

your no better than the neonazis claiming there never was a massmurdering during ww2.
sick bastard

azzilla

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> @Falconfire: Have you ever considered that we have never experienced the predicted "doom and gloom" because science and the policies we adopted because of the science prevented such catastrophes?

The phasing out of ozone depleting chemicals is still hailed as one of our greatest environmental achievements of the world. Obviously, we should have never developed the chemicals to begin with, but getting rid of a problem is a feat of its own. The earth may have experienced ozone holes in the past, but that does not mean humans were not responsible for the most recent ozone hole. It is a fact that the chemicals we released caused the most recent ozone hole. That part has not been refuted.

berribrand

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> Gawd, how about we just do the right thing and build a bunch of MODERN, SAFE, nuclear power plants and not worry about this crap?

ChootinDaChit

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> @Stang70Fastback: absofukinlutely

chanmoss

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> @strider_mt2k: If you want to simply give your money to energy execs, be my guest. You wasting energy hurts the environment and also your pocketbook.

Some corporations are beginning to change their energy consumption practices because of this very fact. The phrase, "evolve or die/be left behind" applies to physical adaptation as well as intellectual adaptation. This applies to you as well as corporations.

berribrand

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> I'm actually going to try to observe this, but only in the hopes that after 15 minutes of being bored in the dark, my wife will sleep with me.

If I don't see any results in 30 minutes, the lights are coming back on.

m4ximusprim3

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> @Seiven: tell it from your heart man, you're all caught up in your head.
@DrifterTypeR: here hear!

chanmoss

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> @DrifterTypeR: The problem with the evidence is it changes all the time, and is in no way conclusive. I remember for years how we where going through a "global COOLING" before all of a sudden global warming popped up.

I also remember when scientists sheepishly admitted that we in fact never created the "hole" in the ozone layer and that it had been there for possible as long if not longer than humans existed based on ice core data.

There is no doubt that we need to clean up our act in some ways, thats for sure. But the doom and gloom predictions we have are about as accurate as the doomsday clock of the 50's through 80's.

Falconfire

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> You people are morons. This turn-the-lights-off thing is not so much to actually save power as it is to raise awareness to an issue that has become very much a serious one. I for one and fairly angered at this post - I think it's useless, stupid, and irresponsible.

Stang70Fastback

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> is bashing global warming the only way to appear manly for you folks? it has nothing to do with hippies, or how great America is, or whether you have the right to shoot a gun, or burn a book, or paint your towering pc blood red - it has to do with clean air, clean water, longer life for everyone & everything...
what's so wrong with that?


petelobl

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> @Seiven: No one is saying we will be "toast" right here and now. Obviously you don't understand that global climate change is a long-term thing, and not something that happens instantaneously.

berribrand

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> Oh noes! Heaven forbid I can't check my crackberry or watch porn instead of actually interacting with real people!

I usually enjoy the blog, but you guys are a bunch of assholes.

unique172

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> @RainyDayInterns: "Humans can either shape their future or let it shape them"

So, should we not conserve energy when we can? Stupidity is one way of shaping our future. Do you really hate your children that much that you want to leave them a dilapidated, withered world?

berribrand

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> @Seiven: Ahh yes. This is the cry of the ignorant, is it not? Can't let real science and facts get in the way of irrationalism.

berribrand

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> I'm not going to turn all my gadgets off. But, I'm willing to compromise. I will make a list of things to do to lower my carbon footprint.

And then I will burn that list.

Flugenhiber

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> @DrifterTypeR: This happens any time global warming comes up on The Internet. It's very strange to me too. I think that you're right that it's become an identity issue, like Mac vs. Pc. It's just so inane.

itchytooth

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> Something I don't understand... and I think it could be link to the fact that something happen to me... I somehow jump time.

I say this, because weren't in the 70's or about, talking about Global Cooling, and the next Ice Age?! So what happen with that.. did I miss the Second Ice Age?!

Also, what I don't understand, is why in the time of the middle ages, the most houses were not build from all wood, which is a good isolation to keep heat inside houses better (compared to stone), and use stones instead. Doesn't mean that Middle Age passed into a period of heavy heat. I think historians made a very bad job, of never talking about the millions cars and industries, that polluted the air with all that CO2.
Or perhaps it DID occur, we had cars back then... however the concentration of CO2 and acid rain killed almost everyone and every facts, except the books that said that their was a plague.

Anyway... I think it is all B.S. However I must admit, it does prevent us from wearing masks when we go outside. But, it DOES distract from the fact that our waters gets super polluted as no one cares, or forgot about water pollution. What pollution? All that mercury you are trowing away that is inside all of your energy efficient light bulb. Nicely played.

GoodBytes

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> I may not be the greenest guy around by any stretch of the imagination, but last I checked, Duke Energy charges me for that juice I use. Sorry Giz, I'm afraid I have to sit this one out.

novacthall

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> Ok, I thought you guys were kidding at first, but these comments are making me nervous. I guess I just assumed that Giz readers are more scientifically inclined then the average joe, but I guess not. I am not even going to argue about whether global warming is real or not, if you still don't understand the evidence at this point then nothing will convince you. I am more concern that this has became more of a political identity issue then a scientific issue. Even if you don't agree with WWF's proposed solution, there is no reason to purposely waste energy to prove you point. It will cost you money and admittedly worsen the alleged problem. Nobody wins.

DrifterTypeR

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> @Gann: AHAHAHAHAHAH! Nice. I wish I had 2 floors... maybe I can do a 'west side' heat, 'east side' A/C fight...

FlashSandbox

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> It's one hour. Big deal. Try it...you might like it.

NachoBoy

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> @Seiven: he cited something written by brit hume for fox news, and another on worldnetdaily.

now THAT'S funny.

Adrian Covert

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> Me thinks its time to bring the christmas lights back out as part of this glorious protest. As an added bonus, I always like to turn the heat on downstairs and the a/c on upstairs and see who wins.

Gann

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> To show my support for Gizmodo, I will run all the diesel engines on the boats I maintain at 2200 RPM for that hour and put on every light and computer I own. Even the Macintosh SE will get booted for the first time in 10 years!

CaptainGumbo

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> 1971...OMG teh nxt ice agez is neer

2007...OMG we are going to b toastz

it's all BS and once again the world is run by money and fear.

both political parties need to just close shop and we need some TRUTH in government.

Wait...Truth + Government = Water + Oil

Seiven

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> To hell with this.

spenc938

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> @Kanchi:
[www.worldnetdaily.com]
[newsbusters.org]
[www.foxnews.com]
[newsbusters.org]





Seiven

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> @kezratt1: You do realize that out of all the people in the world, academic scientists have the least interest in "perpetuating the myth of climate change." The reason? Simple: they have have TENURE. They can sit on their asses and teach water chemistry all day long and paid the same amount. Few professors actually get to use grant money to take in additional revenues. Indeed, if you don't believe me file a freedom-of-information act to inquire about the salaries of professors in public universities. I'll give you a head-start on Rutgers University: [php.app.com]

elint6

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> Bloody Hippies

Xolo

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> @Johnny.Shitbox: These are rolling bright-outs, so whatever time zone you're in.

Adrian Covert

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> hey, im not against it but for an hour? i dont think its A good Idea for those greedy Business man, graft politicians, people in las vegas.

Amiash Loves You

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> I'm paying for it.
I'll use as much as I can afford, thanks.

As an individual I'm now claiming the same rights as corporations have.

Screw you, hippies.

strider_mt2k

]]> <![CDATA[Earth Hour Wants All The Lights Off, But We Want Them On]]> @scoobydoo: You misunderstand. You do not turn off the entire plant, you rearrange power input into the grid to ensure that it is fully saturated during the blackout and ready for the sudden jump 1t 9:01pm. Just imagine, if no one is using the electric potential of electrons for an hour, and these plants continue to produce electricity, where do you suppose the produced energy from burning fossil fuels goes? It doesn't just disappear -- they could conceivably store them in batteries or offer the energy at a temporary discount for, say, an electrolytic metal production factory for an hour. Those are unlikely, last-minute deals and therefore, the plants plan ahead in the hours leading upto the blackout. Either way, fossil-fuel use will decline during this blackout, even if the effect is marginal.
Either way, I