The real challenge is keeping the lights off for 4 hours or if you are really dedicated for 2 weeks!
I don't know how many participated, or what sort of effect we had on the overall energy usage during the hour but I know that I felt better about myself. I convinced a couple people to observe Earth Hour (since that silly liberal media for some reason didn't make sure everyone knew about it, or really hardly anyone) and I attended an Earth Hour party where we decided to just not turn the lights back on because we didn't need them.
This was an exercise.
1 hour will not save the world or even make a difference in the long run.
But it will hopefully be able to draw more attention to the climate crisis and how little things can make a difference. Think of it this way, you can lose weight by going on a diet and being really strict about what you eat and you can probably stick to it for awhile and loose some weight, but if you don't make a fundamental shift in your lifestyle it is not going to last and you are going to put the weight right back on. Really the key is the little things like drinking water and diet drinks instead of Coke and sugary drinks or using mustard instead of mayo. These are 2 small things that you can do to permanently change your eating habits that may not cause immediate changes, but over the long term it will make a HUGE difference.
This is much like that. Its the little things you can do (which don't even take much effort) that can make a big difference. Hopefully tonight we learned that we don't need as many lights on in our houses and to always make sure to turn off the light in the room you just left.
If we can slowly start to make a change in the way that we live, we just may be able to make a change in the climate crisis. Surprisingly it won't take too much effort on any one person's part, but instead if everyone does a little bit, together we can save the world.
If you don't do it to save the world, at least do it for me.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Rush Limbaugh is a jackass!
I usually don't swear here, you know cause there may be kids reading (and I like to think I can fully express myself without swearing when I have the time to choose my words carefully).
But Fuck Rush Limbaugh!
Today I was unfortunate enough to overhear some of his show while I was working (by the way, seriously dude, just because you work at a school in a highly republican town doesn't mean you should pollute your head with this nonsense).
I had heard about his Operation Chaos where he encouraged republican voters to vote in the Democratic primary for Hillary to extend the race and cause controversy. I am fine with that, it is just working the system to try and give McCain (who he originally said he would NOT vote for, and now he supports because he is a jackass) a better chance at getting elected. Whatever.
But today he was making fun of Earth Hour (he is clearly a regular reader of my blog, obviously since I have my finger on the pulse of all things that could make our country and planet better, and had just mentioned Earth Hour) and asked his blind sheep to turn on all the lights they could so that us tree huggers wouldn't be able to show what kind of difference we can make.
How could anyone deny climate change?
Why would you want to stop something that could actually improve things for all of us?
Because Rush is a jackass.
So if you needed any extra motivation to take part in Earth Hour today at 8PM, do it because it will make Rush cry. Turn off any non essential lights and encourage anyone who actually cares about making a difference in our future to join in.
Rush also went on to say that he hopes the Superdelegates pick Hillary against the will of the people so that all black people would get so fed up that they would become republicans. Dude, you along with George Bush hate black people (unless they are rich and well spoken (it is a seriously back handed racist statement to imply that a typical black person would not be articulate, and just fuels hatred and spreads the racial divide even further)).
I'm tired, too much singing, but just had to vent a bit.
This time I'm serious (yes I've probably said the exact same thing before), I will be posting more often to ease everyone back into the strike shortened TV season. stay tuned
But Fuck Rush Limbaugh!
Today I was unfortunate enough to overhear some of his show while I was working (by the way, seriously dude, just because you work at a school in a highly republican town doesn't mean you should pollute your head with this nonsense).
I had heard about his Operation Chaos where he encouraged republican voters to vote in the Democratic primary for Hillary to extend the race and cause controversy. I am fine with that, it is just working the system to try and give McCain (who he originally said he would NOT vote for, and now he supports because he is a jackass) a better chance at getting elected. Whatever.
But today he was making fun of Earth Hour (he is clearly a regular reader of my blog, obviously since I have my finger on the pulse of all things that could make our country and planet better, and had just mentioned Earth Hour) and asked his blind sheep to turn on all the lights they could so that us tree huggers wouldn't be able to show what kind of difference we can make.
How could anyone deny climate change?
Why would you want to stop something that could actually improve things for all of us?
Because Rush is a jackass.
So if you needed any extra motivation to take part in Earth Hour today at 8PM, do it because it will make Rush cry. Turn off any non essential lights and encourage anyone who actually cares about making a difference in our future to join in.
Rush also went on to say that he hopes the Superdelegates pick Hillary against the will of the people so that all black people would get so fed up that they would become republicans. Dude, you along with George Bush hate black people (unless they are rich and well spoken (it is a seriously back handed racist statement to imply that a typical black person would not be articulate, and just fuels hatred and spreads the racial divide even further)).
I'm tired, too much singing, but just had to vent a bit.
This time I'm serious (yes I've probably said the exact same thing before), I will be posting more often to ease everyone back into the strike shortened TV season. stay tuned
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
What?
Good news and bad news for White Sox fans. The good news is that I had a dream in which Alexei Ramirez hit a game winning home run in his first game in US Cellular, and it was a very vivid dream so I've got a good feeling it will come true (in the dream I was watching on TV (I heard Hawk make the call of "in his first game at US Cellular") so in order to not change the future I can not go to his first game). And with Jerry Owens' injury he may be starting everyday in centerfield (which means I can start going game 2).
Bad news is that I have officially lost my White Sox Charities wristband which I have had since about mid season last year (the first one lasted throughout the 2006 90 win year and the first 3 months of 2007). I have no idea where it went, how I lost it or why it would be considered bad news to anyone.
Battlestar Galactica returns April 4th for the final season (which will be split up into 2 10 episode runs with the series finale possibly not coming until sometime in 2009). There is a week long daytime marathon on Sci Fi to get you completely caught up, check the schedule and set your DVRs to keep all (and make sure to not record the nightly Season 3 episodes so you don't get them out of order). It will take a serious commitment but it is the sort of show that you can watch 5 episodes and still want to watch more. If only this was during Spring Break 08, I know a few people who would be easy converts with the correct amount of time.
On "American Idol" last night it was a tough call, but Chikezie should have gone home. Of everyone left, they are all pretty good and no one is really pulling away. It will be tough to call who goes home each week especially when Jason Castro who should have been at least top 5, was bottom 3. Kristie Lee Cook is genius, she sang God Bless The USA and now has every country fan pulling for her, and the Vote for the Worst site has picked her. But I wouldn't mind seeing her hang around for awhile, she is kinda hot and better than, well possibly Ramiele and...no one else, so she's going home soon.
My Top 5: Carly Smithson, David Archuleta, David Cook, Jason Castro and Syesha Mercado (she kind of bugs me with her overly dramatic acting, but I still like her slightly more than Brooke)
Earth hour is only 3 days away! Are you prepared? do you even know what it is?
I wouldn't be surprised, it is not well publicized and really could be a very cool thing.
This Saturday the 29th at 8 PM everyone is supposed to turn off any non-essential lights and Chicago is the flagship city for the event (a move by Daley to make sure that we get the Olympics of course) and will dim the skyline for the hour. It won't really do anything, but hopefully we can better the 10% drop in energy usage they saw in Australia last year. That could start to draw attention to just how big a difference we can actually make even if we do little things.
Bad news is that I have officially lost my White Sox Charities wristband which I have had since about mid season last year (the first one lasted throughout the 2006 90 win year and the first 3 months of 2007). I have no idea where it went, how I lost it or why it would be considered bad news to anyone.
Battlestar Galactica returns April 4th for the final season (which will be split up into 2 10 episode runs with the series finale possibly not coming until sometime in 2009). There is a week long daytime marathon on Sci Fi to get you completely caught up, check the schedule and set your DVRs to keep all (and make sure to not record the nightly Season 3 episodes so you don't get them out of order). It will take a serious commitment but it is the sort of show that you can watch 5 episodes and still want to watch more. If only this was during Spring Break 08, I know a few people who would be easy converts with the correct amount of time.
On "American Idol" last night it was a tough call, but Chikezie should have gone home. Of everyone left, they are all pretty good and no one is really pulling away. It will be tough to call who goes home each week especially when Jason Castro who should have been at least top 5, was bottom 3. Kristie Lee Cook is genius, she sang God Bless The USA and now has every country fan pulling for her, and the Vote for the Worst site has picked her. But I wouldn't mind seeing her hang around for awhile, she is kinda hot and better than, well possibly Ramiele and...no one else, so she's going home soon.
My Top 5: Carly Smithson, David Archuleta, David Cook, Jason Castro and Syesha Mercado (she kind of bugs me with her overly dramatic acting, but I still like her slightly more than Brooke)
Earth hour is only 3 days away! Are you prepared? do you even know what it is?
I wouldn't be surprised, it is not well publicized and really could be a very cool thing.
This Saturday the 29th at 8 PM everyone is supposed to turn off any non-essential lights and Chicago is the flagship city for the event (a move by Daley to make sure that we get the Olympics of course) and will dim the skyline for the hour. It won't really do anything, but hopefully we can better the 10% drop in energy usage they saw in Australia last year. That could start to draw attention to just how big a difference we can actually make even if we do little things.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Oh....Okay then
Happy St. Patrick's day to all of you!
Can you believe that nobody heard of this holiday before Guinness really started promoting it. Well obviously not really, but they have done a great job of getting their delicious beverage to be a staple of not only this day, but my entire life.
I haven't been blogging much (some of you noticed), but I've never been much of a blogger, really, I was tricked into it and I kept it up just so that I could see the tracker go up (such an easy way to feel good about myself). But I don't watch that much TV anymore, I just don't. I still watch an obscene amount of TV by anyone else's standards but its not really a top concern anymore. I've been busy, I may have somehow accidentally gotten a life. I hope to bring random things to your attention, but it may not be on a regular basis. Although I am getting excited by American Idol. oh and Lost. and I guess all those shows that are coming back. Who knows soon I may actually like blogging again.
Singstar 90's is coming out on Wednesday and I am pretty excited! My voice is still sore from a marathon session of the current games on Saturday, since we knew that this was a great opportunity to get some Singstars before the 90's disc took center stage. I am hoping to sing a lot over the next week, maybe you will join me for a song?
If you watch Battlestar Galactica, then this recap of the first 3 seasons will make you laugh and remind you of things you forgot happened. The Season 4 premiere is April 4th.
Obama is going to win!
Hopefully we can stop FOX News from brainwashing too many people into thinking he's not the first politician in generations with the ability to enact change for the good of our country (not the corporations), before the misinformation spreads like the bloody pox (I'm enjoying John Adams on HBO a lot) through all of the stupid people (I think there are a lot more of them than you may think). It is nice to see the Yes We Can video from Will I Am because it uses Barack's own words to show what an inspiration he can be. The We Are The Ones video is pretty silly and doesn't focus on him or his words, but why others are excited about him, its not the same. Obama is not the media darling, he is the candidate that is connecting with voters in new ways and literally building a grassroots movement that can not be ignored. The media just happened to be doing their job and picked up on it.
Ever have one of those days where you have a 4 hour drive (some may tell you 5, but you believe in your abilities) and a couple too many important phone calls to make ahead of you, only to find out that you left your solar power charger behind? Probably not, but this is about me, not you, pay attention. So you don't have your charger (you never bought a car charger because of the Solio), but at least your phone has a back up battery, which at this point it is not making a connection and you finally realize that it isn't working at all. So you use your phone until it dies, unable to make a couple of your calls, but, you know what, no big deal, you'll be home in an hour, its okay nothing you can do about it. Then you realize why you need that back up battery to work, and why that charger would have been soo nice (fully charged on a beautifully sunny 70 degree day (anyone who complains about DST needs only one afternoon/evening where it is still 60 when you're done with work to realize that DST is not the devil)), its that noise, the noise that makes you think you have a flat tire. You know that you have a spare, and rememeber that the last time you had a flat you pushed it and shredded your tires, so you pull right over get out and start to check the tires. But there isn't a flat, nothing seems to be broken or stuck or out of place or obviously wrong, so you get in and think that its just finally official that you've gone crazy. As you drive away the noise is back. Get out again kick the tires just to make sure, check the wheel wells, lay on the shoulder of the highway to look under your car and see nothing unusual (not that I have any idea what it would normally look like). So now something is wrong with my car, I don't have a phone and I'm still a good 25 miles from home. What to do? Make a deal with your car of course. Okay if anything sounds worse I will get out immediately and walk to a phone, if it doesn't sound too bad I'll try driving to the next exit. Well the second exit is only another mile and the noise seems to be going away, then its almost gone. Maybe I just hit something and it was stuck, I'll drive slow, yeah, slow and steady will be the key to making it easiest for the car. God how does anyone just drive the speed limit? I'll go a little bit faster, you know so I can get home quicker and then get my car fixed.
I had one of those days Friday, it was stressful and fun and helped me remember that as much as I try I can't think of everything and I have to learn to adapt better (don't know how that lesson applies, but its the one I'm going with)
As it ends up nothing is wrong with my car (though there is a definite new rattle noise), or at least so says the service guys. The knock has gone away, and I'm sure I'll get used to the noise, so all is well. Thanks for your concern.
Can you believe that nobody heard of this holiday before Guinness really started promoting it. Well obviously not really, but they have done a great job of getting their delicious beverage to be a staple of not only this day, but my entire life.
I haven't been blogging much (some of you noticed), but I've never been much of a blogger, really, I was tricked into it and I kept it up just so that I could see the tracker go up (such an easy way to feel good about myself). But I don't watch that much TV anymore, I just don't. I still watch an obscene amount of TV by anyone else's standards but its not really a top concern anymore. I've been busy, I may have somehow accidentally gotten a life. I hope to bring random things to your attention, but it may not be on a regular basis. Although I am getting excited by American Idol. oh and Lost. and I guess all those shows that are coming back. Who knows soon I may actually like blogging again.
Singstar 90's is coming out on Wednesday and I am pretty excited! My voice is still sore from a marathon session of the current games on Saturday, since we knew that this was a great opportunity to get some Singstars before the 90's disc took center stage. I am hoping to sing a lot over the next week, maybe you will join me for a song?
If you watch Battlestar Galactica, then this recap of the first 3 seasons will make you laugh and remind you of things you forgot happened. The Season 4 premiere is April 4th.
Obama is going to win!
Hopefully we can stop FOX News from brainwashing too many people into thinking he's not the first politician in generations with the ability to enact change for the good of our country (not the corporations), before the misinformation spreads like the bloody pox (I'm enjoying John Adams on HBO a lot) through all of the stupid people (I think there are a lot more of them than you may think). It is nice to see the Yes We Can video from Will I Am because it uses Barack's own words to show what an inspiration he can be. The We Are The Ones video is pretty silly and doesn't focus on him or his words, but why others are excited about him, its not the same. Obama is not the media darling, he is the candidate that is connecting with voters in new ways and literally building a grassroots movement that can not be ignored. The media just happened to be doing their job and picked up on it.
Ever have one of those days where you have a 4 hour drive (some may tell you 5, but you believe in your abilities) and a couple too many important phone calls to make ahead of you, only to find out that you left your solar power charger behind? Probably not, but this is about me, not you, pay attention. So you don't have your charger (you never bought a car charger because of the Solio), but at least your phone has a back up battery, which at this point it is not making a connection and you finally realize that it isn't working at all. So you use your phone until it dies, unable to make a couple of your calls, but, you know what, no big deal, you'll be home in an hour, its okay nothing you can do about it. Then you realize why you need that back up battery to work, and why that charger would have been soo nice (fully charged on a beautifully sunny 70 degree day (anyone who complains about DST needs only one afternoon/evening where it is still 60 when you're done with work to realize that DST is not the devil)), its that noise, the noise that makes you think you have a flat tire. You know that you have a spare, and rememeber that the last time you had a flat you pushed it and shredded your tires, so you pull right over get out and start to check the tires. But there isn't a flat, nothing seems to be broken or stuck or out of place or obviously wrong, so you get in and think that its just finally official that you've gone crazy. As you drive away the noise is back. Get out again kick the tires just to make sure, check the wheel wells, lay on the shoulder of the highway to look under your car and see nothing unusual (not that I have any idea what it would normally look like). So now something is wrong with my car, I don't have a phone and I'm still a good 25 miles from home. What to do? Make a deal with your car of course. Okay if anything sounds worse I will get out immediately and walk to a phone, if it doesn't sound too bad I'll try driving to the next exit. Well the second exit is only another mile and the noise seems to be going away, then its almost gone. Maybe I just hit something and it was stuck, I'll drive slow, yeah, slow and steady will be the key to making it easiest for the car. God how does anyone just drive the speed limit? I'll go a little bit faster, you know so I can get home quicker and then get my car fixed.
I had one of those days Friday, it was stressful and fun and helped me remember that as much as I try I can't think of everything and I have to learn to adapt better (don't know how that lesson applies, but its the one I'm going with)
As it ends up nothing is wrong with my car (though there is a definite new rattle noise), or at least so says the service guys. The knock has gone away, and I'm sure I'll get used to the noise, so all is well. Thanks for your concern.
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