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But this isn't about celebrities and hypocrites. Why should it be?
That's a talking point. Every time anyone says anything about the importance of the environment, someone says "But Al Gore's plane....! "
Yeah. That sucks, too. The plane sucks. However, there are millions and millions of people in this country and world who have never set foot on a private jet and are trying to reduce their pollution here and now.
I'd rather be one of them than someone who sits on the sidelines and says "Well, AL GORE pollutes, so who CARES if I do!"
Gee, of all that I said you focused on three lines and went to bat. To refresh your memory, here's the first part of the post.
I just don't like meaningless symbolic gestures like this. You want people to save the enviroment then appeal to their pocketbook. Point to their utility bill and tell them how they can save electricity and natural gas to save money. If they complain about the cost of gas give them tips on what they can do to their vehicle and how they drive in order to increase their mpg.
Turning off the lights for one hour is a meaningless symbolic gesture. Those who already believe in your cause are probably doing this already. You want to get the rest of the country then use money as a selling point. Also, who said I sit on the sidelines? I drive mainly in the city and get between 23 to 24mpg out of a car rated at 19 to 20 mpg city. All but two lights in my home are compact fluorescent bulbs. I perform routine maintenance on my home's AC unit to keep it's energy usage down. Every few months I clean the coils of my refrigerator and use a calibrated thermometer to ensure proper safe food temperature and not any cooler. I use another thermometer to set my water heater to 120 degrees and check it annually. All my windows are covered in solar screens and heat reflective window tint. I have a low flow shower head with a trickle switch. We wash our clothes in cold water. We have ceiling fans so we're more comfortable at higher summer temperatures indoors. I inspect our weather stripping annually. All this amounts to a summer high utility bill of a little over $100 a month with three people living in an all electric home. At work I control an entire hospital's heating and cooling system. I make manual adjustments on large cooling systems so that we keep our utility usage to the bare minimum which is hard to do for a building whose electric bill is measured at over $100,000 a month. We can't control the energy used by MRI, CAT scans, lasers, and robot surgery tools but we can try to keep our HVAC systems operating as efficient as possible. It's a difficult balancing act but we try to do the best we can with what little budget administration is willing to give us. If we had the money we could really reduce our building's utility usage by changing out some chillers and other equipment. But we don't have the money so we do the best we can. So go ahead and turn off your lights and light a candle and sit on the sideline because I'm in the game fighting in real life.
As I stated, I do my part for to conserve energy. But the people behind Earth Hour have said that whatever you do "is a vote for or against" saving the earth. I didn't make it political, WWF did. I'm just casting my vote. Against the hypocrisy of the extreme environmentalists that turn off their lights while the world is watching, but squander resources the rest of the time.
And really..........did you think I was going to turn on EVERY light and appliance? That statement was meant to start conversation. And as I stated, I do my part. What's your contribution?
As I stated, I do my part for to conserve energy. But the people behind Earth Hour have said that whatever you do "is a vote for or against" saving the earth. I didn't make it political, WWF did. I'm just casting my vote. Against the hypocrisy of the extreme environmentalists that turn off their lights while the world is watching, but squander resources the rest of the time.
And really..........did you think I was going to turn on EVERY light and appliance? That statement was meant to start conversation. And as I stated, I do my part. What's your contribution?
Then you should have opened the thread with a comment against WWF's perceived hypocrisy, and not the pointless Look-at-me-I'm-so-edgy-and-contrary statement you did.
I have an old coal stove out back and I fired it up tonight for the green hour. I thought it was quite old fashioned of me to put 30# of coal in it and light the old stove up.
wonder if it will make the liberal neighbors mad? heck I dont care if it does.
So, do you find pollution amusing, or do you want to do it just to **** people off, in which case you'd think that your amusement is more important than the environment?
carolina, let's see you try to reduce the energy usage of 59 different airhandler units, four industrial refrigeration compressors, one natural gas boiler, and all the many water pumps used to circulate the heating water and cooling water through a 12 story building without making patients and doctors too hot in the process while in south Louisiana summer. That's what we try to do on the job.
So, do you find pollution amusing, or do you want to do it just to **** people off, in which case you'd think that your amusement is more important than the environment?
Ahem, aren't you supposed to turn off your power by now? According to my screen, you were online at 8:31 pm!
So, do you find pollution amusing, or do you want to do it just to **** people off, in which case you'd think that your amusement is more important than the environment?
one coal stove to heat a home does less damage to the enviroment than members of ELF burning down newly built homes or setting Hummers on fire at a dealership. Those Earth Liberation Front people claim to be enviromentalist but they're idiots. Some of those coal burning stoves were designed to burn the coal more efficiently releasing less pollution and smoke in the air. Burning a newly built home releases toxic chemicals in the air along with other pollutants. Burning a Hummer will not only burn the paint and plastics, it'll also burn the gasoline and oil in a very inefficient manner releasing more pollutants than the Hummer would have done after many years of use.
carolina, let's see you try to reduce the energy usage of 59 different airhandler units, four industrial refrigeration compressors, one natural gas boiler, and all the many water pumps used to circulate the heating water and cooling water through a 12 story building without making patients and doctors too hot in the process while in south Louisiana summer. That's what we try to do on the job.
And that's all well and good. No one said it wasn't.
Ahem, aren't you supposed to turn off your power by now? According to my screen, you were online at 8:31 pm!
Newfangled invention called a battery. In fact, mine holds an 8 hour charge, longer than most so it doesn't have to be recharged very often. And it can be recharged many times before being thrown out.
And at any rate, Earth Hour is only lights. And I still have everything in my house unplugged. Which is a pretty typical night for me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sailordave
one coal stove to heat a home does less damage to the enviroment than members of ELF burning down newly built homes or setting Hummers on fire at a dealership. Those Earth Liberation Front people claim to be enviromentalist but they're idiots. Some of those coal burning stoves were designed to burn the coal more efficiently releasing less pollution and smoke in the air. Burning a newly built home releases toxic chemicals in the air along with other pollutants. Burning a Hummer will not only burn the paint and plastics, it'll also burn the gasoline and oil in a very inefficient manner releasing more pollutants than the Hummer would have done after many years of use.
Because I apparently support ELF, which makes your comment extremely relevant.
Turning off the lights for one hour is a meaningless symbolic gesture. Those who already believe in your cause are probably doing this already. You want to get the rest of the country then use money as a selling point. Also, who said I sit on the sidelines? I drive mainly in the city and get between 23 to 24mpg out of a car rated at 19 to 20 mpg city. All but two lights in my home are compact fluorescent bulbs. I perform routine maintenance on my home's AC unit to keep it's energy usage down. Every few months I clean the coils of my refrigerator and use a calibrated thermometer to ensure proper safe food temperature and not any cooler. I use another thermometer to set my water heater to 120 degrees and check it annually. All my windows are covered in solar screens and heat reflective window tint. I have a low flow shower head with a trickle switch. We wash our clothes in cold water. We have ceiling fans so we're more comfortable at higher summer temperatures indoors. I inspect our weather stripping annually. All this amounts to a summer high utility bill of a little over $100 a month with three people living in an all electric home. At work I control an entire hospital's heating and cooling system. I make manual adjustments on large cooling systems so that we keep our utility usage to the bare minimum which is hard to do for a building whose electric bill is measured at over $100,000 a month. We can't control the energy used by MRI, CAT scans, lasers, and robot surgery tools but we can try to keep our HVAC systems operating as efficient as possible. It's a difficult balancing act but we try to do the best we can with what little budget administration is willing to give us. If we had the money we could really reduce our building's utility usage by changing out some chillers and other equipment. But we don't have the money so we do the best we can. So go ahead and turn off your lights and light a candle and sit on the sideline because I'm in the game fighting in real life.
See, this is the stuff that bothers me. "in the game fighting in real life". What, praytell, do you think the rest of us are doing? If you want to compare carbon footprints, I'm game. I'm glad you make genuine efforts, but why cut down the efforts of other people? Symbolism and authentic effort are not mutually exclusive.
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