Environment
Earth Hour 2010 a disappointment in Toronto
Earth Hour 2010 was a bit of a disappointment in Toronto. Those hoping to catch a glimpse of the city shrouded in darkness were instead treated to a modest display of energy conservation. Even a quick glance at photos from last night reveal a waning interest in the hour-long ritual.
Toronto Hydro reports that the city experienced a 10 per cent power drop between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m. last night. In 2009, on the other hand, Toronto recorded a 15 per cent drop. The temperature, which was 10 degrees colder this year, certainly played a role in this discrepancy.
But, as the photos below show, there just wasn't as much participation in 2010 (for photos of 2008 and 2009, check here and here, respectively).
Even buildings and institutions one would assume to be willing participants -- like the University of Toronto -- remained mostly bright.
But, of course, that's not to imply that there wasn't any evidence of an effort being made to conserve energy. Still, one can't always trust the camera. With short exposures, almost anything can be made to look dark.
The Royal York Hotel was on board, and seems to have nailed the romantic mood.
And even if the Roger's Centre and many of the major bank buildingss were mostly lit, the CN Tower was down to only emergency lighting.
The photo below tells most of the story: Earth Hour 2010 saw a bit of a drop in city lighting and power consumption, but was ultimately a disappointment for those who hoped Toronto would keep pace with former efforts.
Photos (in order) by denmar, makeupanid, JY:), Orijahnal and a&t photography, all members of the blogTO Flickr pool.
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Earth Hour is a load of rubbish. The 52" flatscreen and PVR people are watching by candle light probably uses more energy than a CFL overhead light, but if watching it by candlelight makes you seem right on then that's ok.
Newsflash - the time for Earth Hour is when we have PEAK CONSUMPTION. 8.30 on a Saturday night in March isn't it. Try 8.30 on a weekday night in July when the airconditioners are going full blast. Time Of Use Billing will save (or move to offpeak) far more power because it will hit people in the pocket.
And it seems pretty trite to on one hand note that Toronto Hydro reported a 10 percent drop in power (a figure much higher than the 4 percent drop recorded across Ontario, incidentally), and then claim that on the contrary, photos seem to indicate that participation was pretty minimal. The Earth appears flat to the naked eye, and people believed it was flat until they were eventually proven wrong. There's a reason that quantitative evidence is generally more desireable than empirical.
Want some practical action on the environment? Maybe our government shouldn't be funding GM to build gas guzzling large cars in Oshawa.
The only "awareness" Earth Hour is raising is that the way to save the world is by severely inconveniencing yourself. The people who don't come away with that message are the same people you didn't need to convince in the first place.
Considering that that is the opposite reaction we'd like to see... I'm baffled as to why we keep trying to do this every year.
On the other hand, looking at lights of a downtown skyline and deciding that people aren't participating is missing at least 50% of the story. What about all the people who marked Earth Hour by turning off their stereos, computers and idiot boxes? Who held off on doing laundry or running the dishwasher?
And that, of course, is why the lights matter. Accurate or not, images like the ones in this article are bound to give people the sense that enthusiasm has waned. Not only that, despite your desire to convince us all that a drop in energy savings over last year isn't a big deal, the fact remains that a successful Earth Hour should see conservation efforts on the rise rather than in decline. So, colder temperatures or not, this year can't realistically be considered a success for organizers or people paying attention to these types of things.
Is that clear enough for you?
This simple lesson we learned as kids is more important than earth hour. I don't need someone telling me what to do and when to do it.
I left my lights on during earth hour, thanks
Personally, I don't think we'll make any real progress towards planet-saving unless our failures to conserve become illegal and devastatingly expensive - for both individuals and corporations. The problem isn't that it's hard to conserve, it's just too easy to waste. We need to be punished, but no government wants to slap its own constituents unless we mobilize for it. It's like seatbelt laws, smoking laws, and anti-discrimination laws. Nobody liked them at first, but after fifty years of propaganda and legislation we're grudgingly allowing ourselves to evolve.
Earth Hour, I think, will do fuck all.
Also, you can see these photos and camera settings on each users Flickr site. I have to say, 1/6 of a second is not really a "short exposure" for that downtown one.
Turning off the power for 1 hour will do absolutely zipp
for changing the climate. Scientific data to back this up.
Some glaciers are melting fast. But others are growing in
size up to 7 feet in a day. The center of Antartica just had the coldest winter on record in the center. Global warming,
look st all the facts not just the propaganda.
This is just a justification for a large number of taxes.