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Tag: Earth Hour

  • Earth Hour: Throwing Shade At Poor Or Good Cause?

    The lights went out over many of the globe’s major landmarks last night.

    From the Great Wall of China and pyramids of Egypt to the Eiffel Tower and Big Ben, there was worldwide participation in the name of the annual trend called Earth Hour. Initiated by the World Wide Fund for Nature in 2007, the act is meant to be a symbolic gesture to raise awareness and demonstrate terrestrial commitment. Those who participate, pay their penance to the planet for their ecological footprint on the last Saturday in March. After flipping the switch at 8:30, they sit in Stygian silence for sixty minutes, thinking about all the Watts they’ve wasted.

    Or maybe they just go to sleep early.

    Whether the masses spent their dark martyrdom meditating on our earth or not, Earth Hour is meant to “celebrate that trend and think about how we can switch the way we use electricity,” according to Keya Chatterjee of the World Wildlife Fund.

    Keya feels that major progress in conservation has been made, saying “In the last 18 months there have been more solar panels installed in the United States than in the previous 30 years. So we’re seeing a real trend.”

    Black-Opera House in Australia with lights sniped for zero dark Earthy:

    But does this incandescent deprivation really motivate any real mass action? Or is it like the “no makeup selfie” craze that mutated from cancer awareness into self-centeredness?

    Environmentalist Bjorn Lomborg, director of Copenhagen Consensus Center, tends to think it sends the wrong message regarding electricity, while ignoring the plight of the numerous impoverished dwelling in perpetual darkness. The best-selling author who calls the practice an “ineffective feel-good event” indicated,“I think it’s a good way to get attention to the main problem of global warming. Namely that, yes it is a real problem but we’re not fixing it. I think we have no sense of the scale involved.”

    Lomborg has said Earth Hour brings up easy dialogue regarding environmental issues – which results in no real resolution. A necessary (albeit tougher) talk, he believes, involves acknowledging the need for new technology in lieu of throwing money in vain at current ones that aren’t working. “We need to invest a lot more in research and development into green technology, which is not yet ready but should be ready so that everyone, and the Chinese and Indians, will buy it,” he suggested, before adding:

    “And that’s the conversation that we’re avoiding by just having this other showcase of how good a person you are by switching off the lights for an hour.”

    There were billions more than Bjorn who didn’t dim the lights last night either.

    That’s because they lack lights to turn off.

    “1.3 billion people still don’t have access to modern forms of electricity,” explained Lomborg, “About three billion people use fuels like dung and cardboard and twigs to keep warm and cook. This is the world’s biggest environmental problem. Not global warming, not even outdoor air pollution, it’s indoor air pollution that kills 4.3 million people.”

    What are your thoughts on the conservation conversation?


    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Earth Hour Miranda Kerr Myspace Hijacking

    Earth Hour Miranda Kerr Myspace Hijacking

    It’s no secret that Myspace has lost the Internet status it once had, particularly as Facebook has risen to social network dominance. TechCrunch reported this week that Myspace’s decline is even accelerating with worldwide unique visitors decreasing by 14.4% from January to February (comScore).

    Myspace has been trying to rebrand itself as an entertainment hub, and one of the ways it has been trying to fight off dropping traffic is with celebrity “hijacks,” announced in December.

    Myspace Hijacks allow celebrities to take over Myspace, and showcase the things that they like. Myspace started the concept with the Black Eyed Peas. Now, it is Victoria Secret supermodel (and actor Orlando Bloom’s wife) Miranda Kerr, who has hijacked Myspace with a focus on Earth Hour.

    Miranda Kerr MySpace Hijack

    “Myspace was the very first social network to come on board for Earth Hour back in 2007,” said Andy Ridley, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Earth Hour. “Fast forward to 2011 and social media has become critical to the success of our global event, so much so that the very crux of our Beyond the Hour platform has social media at its very core. I know that Miranda will be encouraging people around the world to go beyond the hour – and I’ve no doubt that we’ll see that challenge met by the passionate Myspace community.”

    “As the global ambassador for Earth Hour this year I’m excited to be in a position to reach out to the Myspace audience for such an important cause,” said Kerr. “It will be fun to share the things I love with such a huge global community as well as this year encouraging as many people as possible to go ‘beyond the hour’ and adopt even more sustainability practices in their everyday lives.”

    It is important to note that despite Myspace’s declining traffic, the site does still attract millions of users.

    “Simple things like unplugging appliances when not in use, turning lights off and using candles instead, buying products packaged in recyclable material are all ways in which we can reduce the impact on our planet.  Little things we do as a community or as individuals make a difference,” she added.


    Miranda Kerr is Hijacking Myspace!

    Miranda Kerr | Myspace Video

    Noble causes aside, Myspace will continue to focus on celebrities and entertainment to keep people interested in the site in the Facebook age. Music has long been one of Myspace’s strongest points, but the future is uncertain there. While they did release some tools for musicians in December, and Myspace Music did partner with Songtrust last month, news also came out that President Courtney Holt was stepping down. MySpace’s director of business development, Rita Garg, went to Twitter as well. In January, Myspace even said News Corp. was considering “a number of possibilities including a sale, a merger, and a spinout.”

    As far as Earth Hour, there is also an iPhone app for it too.

  • Earth Hour Gets iPhone App

    Earth Hour Gets iPhone App

    Earth Hour is fast approaching, and in a little over four days millions of people will flip off the lights to show solidarity in the cause of protecting Mother Earth.  The simple act may reflect an effort to use less of the earth’s resources, but the people behind Earth Hour are doing all they can to promote the event through technological resources.

    If you forgot, Earth Hour started in Sydney, Australia when in 2007 millions flipped off the lights for one hour.  A sustainability movement was launched out of that action and now it has become a global initiative.  Earth Hour is promoted by the WWF (World Wildlife Fund in the U.S. and Canada, World Wide Fund for Nature everywhere else).  The new campaign this year is called “60+” and refers to the mission to extend eco-friendly action for longer than 60 minutes.  From earthhour.wwf.sg:

    “This year Earth Hour will become Earth Hour + seeking action not just for 1 hour, but commitment to ongoing change. We want to capture what is being done, the change that is taking place in our world and allow these actions to inspire more action.”

    With this goal in mind, the WWF has launched a new iPhone app.  It is called “60+” and is available right now at the app store.

    The app has facts and tips for conscious living, but it mainly functions as a tool for check-ins.  No, not places but activities.  Users can check-in when they ride a bike to work or fix a leaky faucet.  Utilizing the fact that everyone loves a game, they have also included badges and achievements in the app.  You can even show your friends how much you love the planet with full Twitter integration to share check-ins.

    Also available for your perusal is beyondthehour.org, where people post pledges that become little gray squares to be clicked.  Once clicked, you have the option to share the pledges via Facebook and Twitter.  I wonder if the page uses more energy to display than other pages?

    Earth Hour is this Saturday, March 26th at 8:30 pm.