Saturday, March 29, 2008

Earth Day...Puleeeese!


I will have almost every light on in the house, not to mention both microwaves, the oven, the stove, the washer and dryer, the 3 complete sound systems, the TV and DVD, the computer, the blender, the juicer and if I had any sex toys they'd be revved as well...all in my own private counter-celebration called Dave's World Electricity Day, to mark the modern miracle that dragged us away screaming from FUCKING CANDLES!!!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I read where the Mayor also wants us to "Reduce water use (“I will put a brick in my toilet”)."

I would like to see the Mayor's brick in his toilet.

Do you really think he meant a brick?

Anonymous said...

A little perspective on Earth Hour, math-wise:

National electricity consumption will drop by about 10% for one hour. That's, by my calculation, 0.00114% of annual consumption.

But there's more: most electricity in Canada is generated by hydro and nuclear plants. Only 26.1% of energy in Canada is generated by carbon-dioxide-producing sources.

The saving is now 0.0003%. To give you an idea how small that is, 0.0003% of the way from Vancouver to Toronto is about a half inch.

Even if we turned off all our lights EVERY DAY for one hour (more than we do now), we're only looking at a 0.11% energy saving one one-thousandth. On our distance-to-Toronto scale, that still wouldn't even get you out of town.

So for one hour every day, we burn candles. Has anybody calculated the CO2 output of candles? Actually yes. One candle produces as much CO2 as a much brighter 20w light bulb. In Canada, that would be an 80w bulb, because of our cleaner power. So any benefit is offset by alternate sources of light.

Not only that, but we're paying a carbon tax on gas that does nothing to reduce carbon output, and an environmental fee on electronics that does nothing to reduce computers in landfills.

I've even heard the Kyoto accord described (by environmentalists!) as a "token gesture" that won't have a significant effect on the environment, even if everybody complied. But it will cost billions...

I'm really tired of spending a lot of time, trouble, and money on initiatives that are nothing more than useless gestures.

Robert W. said...

I knew there was something we had in common, David! This whole Earth Day thing is a fraud, a fake, simply a way for people to delude themselves into removing their self-imposed guilt for an evening.

If these candle holders were REALLY serious then they would turn off ALL the breakers in their house for a month - no more fridge, no more hot water, no computer, no stove, no hot coffee, nothing.

But they're "wooses" all. Earth Day is such a Canadian-like effort: lukewarm triviality resulting in nothing meaningful.

David in North Burnaby BC said...

I like mod cons. I don't want to live in the middle ages, thanks. I've lived without running water and indoor toilet. Nowadays is better.
I had every watt-burner in the house and out goin' for earth hour. Me and Slim ridin' the Bomb down. Yeeehaww!! Screw 'em.

Still, it does bring to mind that old one about the girls' school dorm rules: lights out at 9, candles out at 10. ;-)

Anonymous said...

Maybe its just my imagination, but does it seem like the worst offenders of wasting energy are the ones who jump on the bandwagon for all this Earth Day crap.