I don't usually use this space to rant about politics or religion, but this one takes the cake! Earth Hour. We are encourage to turn off our lights for one hour today to symbolize our fight to save the climate/earth/environment/electricity, whatever.
It's like having a pep rally, but there is no game! The world is not ending! We are not killing the planet. The"climate" does not have to be saved. (I actually received an email from someone that said "we have to save the climate"....how do you save climate? in a bottle? Who says the climate we have today is the one we have to have in a hundred years, anyway?)
Environmentalism is the new secular religion. They say that many people do not go to church anymore, this is their substitute. People seem to need something to believe in, so if it is not God, now it is the Earth. They worship it, they make laws about it, you cannot have dissenting views about it, they indoctrinate children in schools, make them write essays, make posters, come up with slogans.
I am happy I live in a world of electricity, I like my light bulbs, my furnace, my air conditioner, modern medicine, flush toilets, refrigerators, sewing machines, they make my life easier, I will live longer than my ancestors. I believe progress is better than the alternative. I choose light over dark. These are my slogans: I choose ideas over stagnation. Enlightment over endarkenment. Go to the Light. Do not choose the Dark side.
People often talk about light pollution, that you can't see the stars when you live in the city. That is true, but look at the satellite image of the world at night. Look where there is no light. North Korea, China, Africa. It is not because they are kinder to the environment it is because they are oppressed, they do not have freedom, they do not have progress or the environment is too harsh for humans. Turning the lights off to me symbolizes oppression and that is not what I want to emulate!
And you know what I think is sad... there will probably be more people willing to turn off their lights for 1 hour than there are who are willing to take a minute of silence for those who gave their lives for our freedoms on Remembrance Day...that is sad.
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8 comments:
My sentiments exactly! I got interested in global warming about 9 months ago and set off on a research journey to understand the models that the IPCC uses to scare us. Several hundered hours later and your article summarizes my research perfectly. Since global warming isn't actually happening, the next great scare is going to be the acidification of the oceans.
I think you are mistaken. I did turn my lights off for an hour. What does it hurt?
I'm sure being a bit kinder to the environment wouldn't hurt. I do take umbrage to those that go overboard...like making nasty comments about my plastic bag (I don't always remember to bring the canvas one!) I remember seeing medical waste on the beach near Boston when I was growing up. They posted water quality signs and for most of one summer you couldn't go in the water! Now you can swim all the time!
I think polluters should clean up their messes and be held accountable in the present, what I object to is the questionable laws and dire predictions for the future. "Carbon taxes" and "carbon credits", what nonsense! If we believe every doom-sayer from the past the world would have ended by now. I also object to the "pep rally" mentality of this propaganda and it is propaganda!
While I agree that the "pep rally" mentality is less than effective (as in don't buy gas on Tuesdays), and that there's a great deal of misinformation out there; it is very hard to dispute the fact that the enormous number of people on this planet are having a significant impact on the environment. I don't claim to be an expert but I do think that each of us could turn off the lights when we're not using them, stop using the silly plastic grocery bags that rarely make it home in one piece anyway, stop to consider the "quick trip" vs. a slightly more organized excursion when it comes to running errands, etc. The biggest gripe I have is the massive number of empty bottled water bottles that are thrown away each day (in my office alone, we overfill a 13 gallon stretchy white trash bag with empties every day and we live in a town with some of the best tap water in the country).
I am a light lover, too ~ and I am grateful for the conveniences we enjoy. But I also care that the next generations can enjoy this earth and its glory.
I believe the environmental movement is not about the environment. It is politics, it is anti-capitalism,it is anti-progress, it is about state control over private property. We do not need a Kyoto accord. I believe individuals working in their own self interest will better the world faster than any government intervention ever will or could. I believe Mother Nature can and does more harm to itself than we could. Tsunamis, hurricanes, tornadoes, meteors hitting the earth, volcanic eruptions, can wipe out entire populations, do you really believe humans cause that kind of environmental damage because they drive cars? Environmental disasters were around before we could measure them. Humans can prevent those things from being worse than they are by our own ingenuity! We can adapt to changing climate, but can we really prevent it? No there is nothing wrong about turning your lights off for an hour or carrying around a tote bag instead of a plastic bag,and I am sure there are some immediate benefits, but will it change the climate in a 100 years? About as much as crossing your fingers for good luck. Did Thomas Edison think about his environmental impact when he invented the light bulb? Would that have prevented him from making such an important invention? What do we really owe future generations, anyway?
I will turn off my lights - I will try whenever I can to be a good custodian of all that I have - even while loving my electricity, phones, cars, etc. I try not to waste water too - there is nothing that is in endless supply and helping when we can is a good thing - and a good feeling. Watching the glaciers melt in Alasak - some at the rate of a foot a year - makes me take pause - and they are not "regrowing" - just going away. The ice shelf in Antartica just had a huge piece break off - twenty years sooner than they had predicted it would.
I carry cloth bags - recycle what I can and compost to save the land fill space. Each one do one thing is a good slogan - so off go my lights each day for an hour - no computer, dishwasher or laundry done during that hour either. Just want to do my part.
Overzealousness is rampant. Thank you for being rational and logical.
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