Earth Hour

Log in

SmokingPipes.com Updates

New Cigars




PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

Status
Not open for further replies.

winton

Lifer
Oct 20, 2010
2,318
771
My company is furiously Politically Correct. Yesterday, I received a mass e-mail telling us to celebrate Earth Hour. 8:30 to 9:30 local time.
Basically, turn off the lights and don't use energy. My plan was to burn some terrible leaves, during that time. But, instead of warm, it was rainy and cold. I smoked a bowl of aged Anniversary Cake in the pipe I made at the pipe making seminar at the last Chicago Pipe Show. And also smoked some Autumn Evening in the 2016 CPS POY.
Here are some of the suggestions in the e-mail:
Host a candle-lit dinner

Stargaze

Host a neighbourhood block party with food, games and local entertainment (excuse the French spelling, Canadian company)

Host a potluck dinner with 'non-cook' foods

Have a game night with family and friends

Host a yoga-in-the-dark session
My wife likes the last idea.

 

aquadoc

Lifer
Feb 15, 2017
2,044
1,522
New Hampshire, USA
It isn't pc to celebrate Earth hour. But it is a good idea. A good list. I would add fill your largest bowl with a slow burning favorite, grab a bottle or three, find a nice dark place to sit under the stars, and enjoy all that life is...

 

huntertrw

Lifer
Jul 23, 2014
5,219
5,339
The Lower Forty of Hill Country
th

Robin to Batman: "Um...what are you two doing, Batman?"
Batman: "Celebrating Earth Hour. Now beat it, Boy Wonder, we've got only 59 minutes left!"

 

toobfreak

Lifer
Dec 19, 2016
1,365
7
Winston, I will meet you at midnight for the great tree hug. :mrgreen:
Let us all hold hands and just feel the energy.
Don't feel bad. At one time I worked for a telecom company that sent out a letter that on one page, I swear they used the word "diversity" at least 60 times! The person writing it must have gotten paid by the number of times they used the word.
Everything was made better just by being diverse. Diversity was the key to all things.
I'm all for the Earth of course and want to see it kept clean and rich and healthy as anyone, but honestly, most of this stuff does nothing but make people feel good. It really accomplishes nothing but give a false sense.
Political correctness probably does more harm than good in the big picture.
If people really want to help the Earth, the biggest thing they can do is curb overpopulation. If you think about it, everything that is identified as a threat to our ecology come back to having too many damned people.

 

warren

Lifer
Sep 13, 2013
11,699
16,207
Foothills of the Chugach Range, AK
If my employer told me to celebrate something, I'd ignore him/her. If he/she asked me to consider doing so, I might give it some thought and then ignore as I'm not much on participating in "feel good" activities.
edit: If the prescribed activities are good, shouldn't they be practiced all the time. Like International Pipe Day or whatever it's called, I do nothing more than what I do every day, smoke a pipe and often.

 

brian64

Lifer
Jan 31, 2011
9,603
14,669
The problem isn't overpopulation, it's overcrowding. Big difference. And the overcrowding is the result of many decades of socioeconomic engineering designed to herd everyone into megacities.

 

ashdigger

Lifer
Jul 30, 2016
11,378
70,056
60
Vegas Baby!!!
They "dim" some of the lights here in Vegas and people swoon. Load of garbage. This is where we're at though. At long as we "feel good" it's all good. Sad.

 

toobfreak

Lifer
Dec 19, 2016
1,365
7
No matter where you put the people, all together in one big city or spread evenly around the country, you still have to feed them, provide electricity, water, gas, sewage, schools and countless other resources. Actually, keeping them closer together kinda makes that a bit easier. The main problem with overcrowding is the social stress it creates and the crime that follows.
Too few resources creates the need for public aid and people crowd around the centers of distribution. It always comes back to just too many damn people for the resources we have. And it drives up the cost for those resources. When I was a kid growing up, we had 190 million people in the US. Now it is something like 330 million.
It was a lot nicer country at 190 million.

 

aquadoc

Lifer
Feb 15, 2017
2,044
1,522
New Hampshire, USA
I will wade into this one. Ash is correct...one hour is not going to make a dent in the issue. But it is not suppose to be all about the "feels". It is about awareness. Why does it push buttons that there is a segment of folks trying to help make things better for everyone?!
Most point to overpopulation as the issue and that is true and false. In the good ole USA, not true. In most 3rd world countries...can be very true. The problem is complicated by religion and politics with regard to education and birth control. Enough said about that.
It is more an issue of resource limitation and mostly about western 1st world mindsets. Earth hour is about bringing awareness to our incredibly vulgar overuse and waste of our resources. Nothing more or less. Walk a mile in Chad or Ethiopia, the Sudan, and tell me afterward that "they need to keep their dick in their pants" is the solution. It isn't even close. The wars/strife/persecution/etc. is a symptom of resource limitation, water to food. Not to speak of energy needs and medicine. I will tell you, I have nightmares of the drive from El Daein (Chad) into Sudan on the way Abu Zabad to Khartoum. Dead kids on the side of the road, kids begging for water and food, "soldiers" dragging screaming young girls towards the forests, ............. we could do nothing. No one can until the resource issue is addressed. That is why bringing awareness to our resource use is important.

 

ophiuchus

Lifer
Mar 25, 2016
1,557
2,052
Lights and entertainment center were shut off at 8:30PM; no one thought to turn anything on until shortly after 10.
We didn't save the world. We didn't make any significant dent in the energy footprint. It was nice, though, to enjoy a quiet hour+ of candlelight on a Saturday night, even just for the sake of awareness and a measure of fun. :puffy:

 

warren

Lifer
Sep 13, 2013
11,699
16,207
Foothills of the Chugach Range, AK
Doc, I admire you and your choices. Your efforts are stellar and I'm not gonna offer any argument against them. My horizons and world view is narrower than yours though. Still, keep up the good fight. I hope you're on the winning side. Your view of humanity is, most likely, healthier than mine.

 
Jan 8, 2013
7,493
733
Your view of humanity is, most likely, healthier than mine.
Every time I hear the word "humanity," I think of the Hindenburg disaster....
I usually don't bother with this kind of thing, although I get why others might. I will however add though, that I walk to and from work most days (it's just about a 45 minute walk or so) so at least I'm helping.

 

aquadoc

Lifer
Feb 15, 2017
2,044
1,522
New Hampshire, USA
Warren, I doubt we are much different. And if it were not for my kids, I may not give two sh$5%. But I do and what little I can do, I try to do. But I am nothing more than a redneck from South Georgia who likes to hunt, fish, and walk in the woods. I would like my kids to have some of the same clean air and water I had. And it would be nice if they could turn a few rocks to look for salamanders while listening to the birds.
As for humanity, we pretty much suck as a species. I still hope to find some overarching redeeming quality...but we are pretty much egocentric, greedy, short-sighted bastards...at least us "educated, civilized" folk are......

 
Status
Not open for further replies.