RKMBs Forums .::Important::. Fortress of Awesome Chat The hippies want to control your life for an hour tonight

I'm doing what I usually do everynight because my life is shit (stay in and play Warcraft all night).

earth hour is all about feeling good, not doing good.

I had sex during earth hour.

with a man.

The European Commission on Monday unveiled a "single European transport area" aimed at enforcing "a profound shift in transport patterns for passengers" by 2050.

The plan also envisages an end to cheap holiday flights from Britain to southern Europe with a target that over 50 per cent of all journeys above 186 miles should be by rail.

Top of the EU's list to cut climate change emissions is a target of "zero" for the number of petrol and diesel-driven cars and lorries in the EU's future cities.

Siim Kallas, the EU transport commission, insisted that Brussels directives and new taxation of fuel would be used to force people out of their cars and onto "alternative" means of transport.

"That means no more conventionally fuelled cars in our city centres," he said. "Action will follow, legislation, real action to change behaviour."


The Association of British Drivers rejected the proposal to ban cars as economically disastrous and as a "crazy" restriction on mobility.

"I suggest that he goes and finds himself a space in the local mental asylum," said Hugh Bladon, a spokesman for the BDA.

"If he wants to bring everywhere to a grinding halt and to plunge us into a new dark age, he is on the right track. We have to keep things moving. The man is off his rocker."

Mr Kallas has denied that the EU plan to cut car use by half over the next 20 years, before a total ban in 2050, will limit personal mobility or reduce Europe's economic competitiveness.

I'm not going to join the discussion on the actual effects/benefits of the earth hour in terms of saving energy/fuel/private ryan/whatever.

I'm not going to be a dick to people who believe in something either. You can support earth hour as much as you want, but please don't look down on me just because I choose not to join it. I just have a problem with the concept. It's like those colored ribbon things: I wore a yellow ribbon to show my support for [insert cause]. I may even join a rally somewhere or throw a rock at a random soldier. But after that is all over, what's next? The status quo is unchanged.

You inconvenienced the opposition for about a day but after that you're left with nothing but a smug feeling that you "did your part". People who are aware that they are not doing their job is probably only slightly worse than People who believe they did their job even though they only did a fraction of it.

After Earth Hour, how many people who participated sold their power hungry multi core PCs and bought an Atom based HTPC that only consumes 25watts on full load? Or how many started unplugging every single unused electronic appliance in the house that is on standby? How many of these people stopped supporting big companies that obviously leave a big footprint on the country's energy consumption?

Or a different question: how many people who participated in the earth hour went back to their old ways like nothing ever happened, only to be Environmentally-aware and supportive the next year when earth hour comes again?

I actually believe that Earth Hour is more useful as symbol, and a powerful one at that. But my problem is that it fools people into thinking that they actually made a big difference.

I think the reason why it's such a huge hit is because it's very easy, I mean how hard can it be to turn off a light for a couple of hours? People think they turn off their lights for a few hours and the earth will be saved, not even bothering to check if it actually made a long term difference. It's instant justification for your worth as a human being.

You don't see the same amount of global support for things that will actually make a difference, like getting rid of power hungry appliances and vehicles (and I don't mean just gas guzzlers. Any car that runs on gas. Use a bike or something) or home cooking instead of depending on fastfood from companies that have large electricity consumptions. Because that would actually need effort and sacrifice, and who wants that? Screw all of that. Just turn off your lights for a couple of hours, BAM! EARTH SAVED.

I'm actually just bitter because Earth Hour happened while I was doing a Boss fight on God of War, and the wife unplugged one of the extension cords unaware that my PS2 is plugged in it along with one of the lamps.

So there you were with the wife with no PS2 and low lighting. Did you do a little youknowwhat?

Now, see, I can go along with this rationale far easier than I can the whole paranoia-driven "anti-Liberal" platform people take on this. Extremists point out the worst possible alternative for anything they oppose, versus the actual, rational, real consequences.

And let's be clear here: I don't support Earth Hour. Hell, I never even know it's "happening" unless someone like rex starts a Rage-Wank thread about it (fucking AWESOME phrase, Joe.... "rage-wank"...perfect description ). So, that's why I question why it's such a big deal whether it does or does not happen. The outcome is always the same. Kind of like voting for a Prez...no matter who you pick, the outcome is always the same: Shit.

I think any move away from foreign oil dependency is a potentially good thing.