Earth Hour to be observed by several Barnesville residents
Granted the movement is far more publicized in larger cities and by celebrities across the board, some Barnesville citizens are picking up on Earth Hour and vowing to switch their lights off at 8:30pm EST.
Man made global warming is a myth, it is NOT a fact, no matter how often it is stated as such.
I find it interesting that you say it is a bunch of liberals since I am a card-carrying conservative and find the exercise to raise awareness on several fronts - global warming, energy efficiency, reliance on government subsidized electrical plants, etc.
You are right about one thing though. I did feel good. If it takes a seemingly useless exercise like this to make me realize how dependent I am on artificial lights for so many things other than just a light source, then I beg for more.
As for "man made" global warming...we could argue that point all day and it would still get us nowhere.
You didn't participate. That is perfectly okay. It is part of being an American and in a 'free' country. You have the right not to participate. You do not, however, have the right to strip others of the joy it may have brought them and may continue to bring.
Although I have expressed myself on the current panic of Global Warming.
There it is right there in the story, they are trying to see what the government can do to regulate this global warming myth/theory. That will negatively affect all of us here in the US, one of the cleanest countries there is, and accomplish nothing useful, while the rest of the earth continues to pollute away.
Glad your family had a great time, should have been doing that all along, but keep in mind, there are usually ulterior motives behind such promoted protestive actions, as is the case here.
I don't take what liberals feed me without research and compassion on my own. I believe in events like these because they are often the ONLY thing (through sensationalism and hype generally) that will get mass attention. We must speak up in order to see real change. I agree with us needing to have the right to speak.
This event was not government run nor even endorsed. It is a grassroots movement sponsored by WWF which is incredibly unsupported and unfunded by the federal government.
Having also traveled to over five third world countries I can attest to the fact that the US is the cleanest country in the world. However, our abuse of landfills, nuclear energy, oil, etc....well, we are beginning to not be as clean, if you will. If we give up as it sounds like you have then no, no other country will try to make efforts of change. I don't see India losing mopeds and cars or throwing things in the street and even defecating in what should be drinkable water. But we must be an example. Despite our own frustrations I do believe we are still an example to much of the rest of the world. I refuse to believe otherwise. If that makes me a liberal, well, so be it. If it makes me naive, so be that as well.
My family has fun together a lot but it is generally in front of TV, or with too many lights on, or in the car. Last night we just spend an evening without all of that dependency.
I would be more than interested to hear what the ulterior motives are that you see so evidently.
-And if you do enough research, you will also find out that during one of these hot cycles, the ocean used to come up to about Macon, but now it doesn't anymore.
You should not base realizing that time spent with your family without distractions is a vote "for global warming" (as the article says) but is really something you should have been doing all along. My point with my comments is, we have enough emotional based hindering regulations already, and sure don't need more.
So are you one of those extremists that believe hurricane katrina was caused by the oil companies? For credibility, you really ought to try to remove your emotions before you post. But I do understand that news reporters have long held the theory of; "Never let the facts stand in the way of a good story"
Uninterrupted time with my family was something that
A) I already said was something we did...except we generally did it in front of the TV or computer or with tons of lights on, etc
B) Not something that automatically casts your vote for Earth (also as the article says)
I did not write this brief article in an opinion manner in order to sway a person one way or the other. This is a free country and you can operate off fact, I can operate off emotion, and our neighbor can operate off a TV psychic should he choose. We have that right. I mentioned nothing of regulations other than that this campaign and its results would be presented at the Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen 2009 which will determine official government policies to take action against global warming. This must be based on fact and will more than likely be based a host of other things. I doubt world politicians will take notice of anyone's emotion.
I am an extremist; yes. I either turn my lights on or off. No dimmer switches for me. Of course I don't believe a natural disaster was caused by oil companies. I do ask that you give me some benefit of the doubt and respect as I feel I have given you.
And as for credibility - when I write a factual piece and not an Op-Ed, I will certainly check my emotions at the door. Thankfully though, I do have the right to express my opinion on some occasion.
The overwhelming consensus from qualified scientists all over the world is that increased levels of CO2 are a major contributor to global warming. There is a small minority in disagreement as there is with any issue, but nearly 100% of qualified experts think we are in trouble. This includes experts from NASA and other reliable sources.
We are actually in a global heating cycle this time while solar activity is at a historic LOW, not a historic high!!
If we think about how very thin the atmosphere is and what we have dumped into it, this is understandable. The height of the breathable atmosphere is only about two miles at best!!
The United States of America, largely thanks to politicization of this issue, is one of the only countries in the world where a significant (but minority) portion of the population "feels" global warming is a hoax. I suppose this is understandable in a country ranking tenth or lower in science skills, depending on which comparison is used. After all, AstroTurf trumps science in our schools.
There will always be a hard core group of people who stick their heads in the sand and disagree, but the overwhelming conclusion of non-political well-educated scientific groups is otherwise. Even the Bush administration's commission came back with very firm statements we were in trouble. The Bush administration just edited out all the things they didn't like before releasing the report.
Pretending like it isn't happening will not make it go away.
I call things like they are. The local wood plant, promoted as "green" by greenies, in fact will bring a point source of significant CO2, CO, and nitrogen-oxygen compounds to our area. We are being duped by the greenies and uneducated into thinking it is all great. For the same minor pollution EPA permit class they are permitted 2-1/2 times the harmful noxious emissions as a coal plant of the same output!!
The stuff about unplugging wall-warts is nonsense when we compare it to the inefficiency of the overall system. It is a meaningless diversion and waste of educational advertising money.
Plug-in electric cars are largely a hoax. They simply move pollution from one area (where the car is) to another (where the power plant is), unless we someday have "clean energy" that is really clean. If all the cars suddenly became plug in electric, we would be in worse shape in the world. The cities would get cleaner, the overall world dirtier.
Global warming and the shortage of easy oil are both very real, and they are the result of a very poor long term energy policy. The key is to not layer even more mistakes on the mistakes we have made up to this point.
Pretending like we don't have a problem won't make the problem go away.
"Pretending like we don't have a problem won't make the problem go away."
I read you information. I do not share your beliefs.
I believe this has happened before, based on the fact the sand pits at Roberta, they find sharks teeth.
This says to me this has occurred before, and no matter how many cars you park, power plants you shut down, and lights you turn off, this is an event that this plant is going to go thru, no matter what we do. Just prepare yourself to experience it, and no panic.
I am not panicked. I am proactive and maybe it all does make me feel better. That is not a liberal feeling...well, maybe it is. Liberal as in liberate as in free. And through my choices in life I certainly do feel free.
It always great to have your contributions on the site though 'H B'.
I’m thinking I will turn on the lights in the house, turn on the oven, it’s electric, and also cook some dinner on the stove top. Grab a couple of cold ones out of the refrigerator. Both of the computers will be on, and I’m sure I can find an NCAA tournament game on the HDTV to watch.
I will observe by not allowing others beliefs to dictate how I live.
If you are looking to start a fight online or to cause dissension, it won't work. This is a free country and you are welcome to do as you wish.
PS - Georgia Power thanks you!
your reaction to my expression should concern you more than anything I have done.
It is hard sometimes online when you read someones comment to know how to take it and with the current trend we have seen on barnesville.com of fighting for the sake of fighting (especially by bringing up race issues for no reason), I find myself on guard.
I am glad you expressed your free rights. I have no problem with it. You have to admit though. Sometimes chillin' with the lights out is a good thing.
This is true with cars, trucks, busses and planes also. For a certain number of kilowatts, so long as the system is reasonably efficient, we will have a certain CO2 level. (Engines are now starting to be rated in kilowatts instead of horsepower.)
1,000,000 watts per hour per 2000 pounds CO2 is 1000/2 or 1/2 kilowatt hour per pound CO2.
The national average for electricity is 17 cents per kWh, this is 8.5 cents per pound of CO2. Georgia is much cheaper than the national average.
A typical medium size TV set might be 100 watts, in five hours it is responsible for one whole pound of CO2 and less than 8.5 cents cost. Same for a 100 watt bulb. (Georgia is less because it is about half the national rate, unless you live inside Barnesville.)
A wall wart, the subject of a new greenie campaign for children, uses about 2 watts of electricity. A wall wart costs about 6 cents a week and takes 1.5 weeks to "produce" one pound of CO2, yet we waste money telling our kids they can be "green" if they simply unplug a wall wart when not in use. After carefully unplugging all the insignificant wall warts they pile into an SUV and are driven to an AstroTurf stadium with 50,000 watts of blazing lights, wasting enough energy in one evening to replace all the wall warts in operation in the entire Southeast.
If someone is an ogre about lights and turns the porch light off so his wife falls off the porch bringing home beer money, he will save about 2 cents an hour and 1/5 pound of CO2.
Things that really kill us are needless trips, air conditioning, and heating devices. My wife received a towel warmer for Christmas as a gift. It is responsible for 1/2 pound of CO2 per hour and she runs it 24 hours a day. The air conditioner in my house is responsible for 10 pounds of CO2 for every hour it runs.
Why worry about wall warts and light bulbs when we have air conditioners, hot water heaters, electric stoves, electric dryers, and cars running all day?
If greenies really want to make a statement, they would turn their air conditioners off for a day, take cold showers, eat cold beans, and walk to the store like real men and women did. Clicking off a TV or a few lights is silly in the face of what really matters.
http://www.nationalpost.com/story.html?id=c47c1209-233b-412c-b6d1-5c755457a8af