Last night was the much hyped night of the Earth Hour; A lot of people turned stuff off for a bit, then turned it back on. I am not alone in feeling that the whole thing is a gimmick, and in a lot of cases I'm a bit concerned about what people think they were accomplishing.
If you're so concerned about things, scrap your cars, take a bike or public transit everywhere and disable your AC in the summertime when you really could use it. Eat more food that doesn't require cooking, hell, just inconvenience yourself a whole bunch and turn back all the progress we've made in quality of life. Alternatively, put yourself deep in debt to invest in solar, geothermal or other renewable energy for your house.
It is NOT a "step in the right direction"; it's a blip, a public-relations exercise, nothing more and people who fail to recognize this (and worse, actively deny it) worry me. I wonder what other schemes they'll cook up and how many will follow along with it in spite of their better interests.
In any event, you can be sure that no Asian countries (Australia doesn't count) of significance took part in this, and if India, China and Russia alone don't do it, just like Kyoto, it's a waste of time.
Of course if people want to use less energy I'm all for that, and in my own way I do the same when I have the chance. If I could afford it, I'd set my house up to be "off the grid" if push came to shove, but it isn't economical. The choice seems to be deliberately shooting our standard of living in the foot or, well, not.
It must be remembered that higher technology allows an ever smaller environmental footprint the higher your technology gets. Hunting and gathering, slash and burn agriculture, all the hallmarks of a low (or no) technology society don't work with the kind of population the planet has presently. Turning off the lights (literally and figuratively) could bring more than an hour of darkness.
No comments:
Post a Comment