Another treehugging plan gone horribly wrong

'Earth Hour' may have some unintended repercussions. (Cool pics though at this Star slideshow.)

Matthew at The Politic has found a Globe article humorously listing 60 things to do during Earth Hour. Numbers 24 to 26 may very well end up being played out all across the world:

24. Don't forget fitness. Practise naked yoga.

25. Conserve water. Share a bath.

26. Or go to bed early. Wink, wink. Nudge, nudge.

So nine months from now, won't there be a sharp global increase in the birth rate of earth-fouling, carbon-emitting, meat-eating human nuisances?

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Update: I just came across the Snopes report on safety concerns regarding CFLs. It's definitely worth a read. You may want to bookmark it in case you ever break one. No you don't have to call in a Hazmat team, but there are some precautions to take.

There have been many reports of explosions, of flashing and noises at the end of the bulb's life, and of fixtures being burned. They can also be affected by humidity. Of course there are concerns about mercury.

But apparently you needn't worry, as long as you check the packaging.

Why do I still not feel reassured?

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Sunday Update: Stephen Taylor has an excellent post up showing how various buildings in Ottawa 'observed' Earth Hour. Well worth the visit!

Boycott Earth Hour

Update: Do not miss the Season finale RMR - (Season 5; episode 19; second clip) - Light Zapper!!!

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I'm supporting Diogenes Borealis in his Earth Hour boycott. This is just more trumped-up feel-good green nonsense.

Peter Foster calls it Earth Hour's soft fascism:

...Earth Hour was in fact pioneered last year in Sydney by WWF Australia, advised by advertising giant Leo Burnet. Leo Burnet's chairman, Nigel Marsh, demonstrated his skill both in semantic perversion and moral obfuscation when he declared: "I'm an optimist about climate change. The human race eventually abolished slavery and gave women the vote. We eventually work it out."

Get the implication? "Deny" the dubious science or dangerous politics of anthropogenic climate change and you're the kind of person who would support slavery and keep women barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen!

On the other hand, Lorrie Goldstein suggests that perhaps the topic of climate change is no longer so relevant, since the Ontario budget barely addressed the supposedly catastrophic problem:

...Finally, and most tellingly, the media didn't ask one question of Duncan, Conservative Leader John Tory or NDP Leader Howard Hampton in three separate news conferences, about Premier Dalton McGuinty's plans to fight climate change -- not even as we all merrily prepare for "Earth Hour" this Saturday.

And all this astounding lack of interest about global warming -- according to Al Gore the greatest threat humanity has ever faced -- in the province which, next to Alberta, is Canada's biggest greenhouse gas emitter! Shameful!

Of course, what it all demonstrates better than any opinion poll could is how much of the ongoing hysteria about global warming only survives in the rarefied atmosphere of constantly re-enforced political and media propaganda...

Exactly.

So pardon me if I opt out of this propaganda stunt.

I'll have every light bulb in the house turned on - and they'll all be incandescent.

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Thursday Update: Oh good grief! Look what's on the front page of today's Record. What a thing to wake up to!! (On the plus side, I did finally send in my cancellation notice.)

Looks like Lorrie Goldstein is going to have a busy Earth Hour - Minutes count when saving earth:

...HERE IS MY ITINERARY:

8:00 p.m. -- Turn off lights before leaving house -- naked -- mindful of George Monbiot's warning in Heat: How to Stop the Planet From Burning, that the campaign against global warming is a campaign in favour of austerity. In this light, I have decided to give up clothes, the manufacture of which is a major source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

8:01 p.m. -- Hug tree.

8:02 p.m. -- Lecture next-door neighbour about his stupid idea of holding community barbecue to celebrate Earth Hour, noting burning charcoal, propane and natural gas to heat barbecues emits GHG. Angrily ask neighbour why he is cooking chicken and hamburger, given that meat production is a major source of GHG. Demand neighbour serve chicken and hamburger to guests raw, noting food poisoning is a small price to pay for preventing cataclysmic climate change and making the world safe for Al Gore...

Please read the whole thing. It is hilarious!!!