"Shut Everything Off" worldwide demonstration??

First thing forget the Useless Nations. Killing your power at 7:45 is a waste of time and wears out switches. You want to make an impression? Do it at peak load times such as in the middle of summer when all ac's are on and business are at full tilt, or in the middle of the day when the weather is cold across the country. Even at that our load factor compared to industry is moot. Of course, if it does work and there is a total system collapse because of high system voltages we will save a bundle because nothing will be using power. The economic damage will be tremendous and we will have done our bit of economical terrorism, ala Elf and Alf. The hell with what it costs, if it gets the point across.

The best way is to just conserve what you use, since reduced income to the generators is something they pick up on very quickly. Then they raise rates so we pay more for doing our part.

__________________
United states of America

Born July 4, 1776

Died November 4, 2008

Suicide

So what if you don't have anything to turn off?

Wood stove (chop wood with an ax)
Candles made from the bees wax
Windmill powered generator that keeps batteries charged
Power inverter for electrical usage fed from batteries
Etc.

Guess I could ask the fireflies to cover their tails for a bit to make a point ... whatchya think? Oh yeah ... it's winter time ... never mind.

Now don't get me wrong ... I think we should all do all we can to save our planet. If you REALLY want to to do something, unplug - disconnect - and don't use no darn hairspray or no-stickem-in-the-pan spray (Pam, I think is the name).

It's one thing to join together to make a point ... it's another thing entirely to join together in a lifestyle that will make a difference! Sure we can do both, but not without asking which of the two are more important and which of the two will have the bigger, longer-lasting impact. In my opinion, if you turn off all your electrical doo-dads for 5 minutes to make a point, then continue the lifestyle that keeps Mother Earth in ICU, what's the point?

Will I do this 5 minute thing? Sure! But I'll also chop some more wood and make a few more candles! Just stuff fer you folks to think about ... and passing along my measly two-cents worth!

Thanks for the listen and have a blessed day!

Old Coot

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My children laugh and the angels stop to listen!

I save energy daily but running around turning everything off for dh and sons who think lights should be left on all the time.
Then I do the laundry and run the dishwasher late at night, peak times cost more energy at the plants.
And of course I ignore the UN. That saves the most energy.

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A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

If every one did it at the same time I am sure it would work, as the load change would bring down the grid, and the Y2K estimates of getting the grid back up was any where from weeks to months to get things working again,

by the time they possibly got it adjusted to a no load condition then the load would come back on drawing possibly up to twice the normal as so many motors would be starting. Many of the automatic safeties would automatic trip when the no load condition was reached, thinking power lines were down, and even if only one time zone did it it may cause a cascading failure clear across the USA and Canada


That is a great Idea, lest kill the grid during the coldest time of the year,, HUMM i wonder how many would freeze to death, and what the property damage would be,

It's O.K. with me.

On 7:45PM on Thursday about all we'll have doing is the TV. We'll just the set the VCR to record Survivor so we don't miss any of it while the TV is off.

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This is the government the Founding Fathers warned us about.....

If you want to do it - do it. I don't have a problem.

Linking global warming - thus Al gore to this kinda gives me a funny feeling.

I believe I just read he will or might be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
It may have always been a political thing - but it really has seemed to be in the last years. This blantant pandering, in my opinion, bothers me.

Not about global warming -just Al Gore.

7:45 CST? EST???

Patty

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Faith is the strength by which a shattered world shall emerge into the light. Helen Keller

You do know Goerge Bush was nominated for a Nobel....

I see it's almost 7:30.

__________________
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

OldCoot, You're my hero.

we wont either. I dont hold much to gestures and genrally dont do what people tell me to do...

Actually, what I heard was France was turning off the lights of the Eiffel tower to make a statement... when did it change to the whole world?

OHH D_M I missed it.

I run a mid/small crop farm with 20-45 head of cattle on $50 of grid power per month. This includes some grain moving at times, welding, the water heater & kitchem is all electric. I'm pretty frugal - another word is cheap - and so I don't waste much.

I think that means something.

A 'token gesture' means not a thing to me - in fact, I look at such things as a slap in the face. An insult. It tends to be rich people 'showing' how much they care, like driving their Beamer to the recycle dropoff with 3 empty soup cans to 'show' how much they care about the environment. They follow that up with lectures of how 'other' people need to sacrafice & how 'other' people should be legislated & dictated as to how they need to live.

Blah.

Token gestures is _exactly_ the problem with the green movement.

A bunch of empty heads doing empty nothings. Sums it up very well.

Hopefully real people will continue to do real things to actually improve the world, despite the empty worthless junk.

It is minus 8 right now, supposed to be minus 18-23 over the weekend, with a high for the next 5 days of plus 2 degrees. Furnaces are pretty much running to their design capacites these days, shut them down for 15 minutes & everyone slamming them on at the same time can very, very easily result in some real costs & problems 'here'.

Try to consider other (real) people, ok?

The world isn't about empty gestures - it's about real people, with real needs, and real issues.

(Yea, you hit a nerve - my message is dripping with sarcasm, that's just my style - no harm intended, but I really can't swallow one single thing you said - you hit every single pet peeve of mine I have with your short message! You did such a good job of summerizing what is wrong with your view of the world....)

--->Paul

whatever. i think attitudes like yours "empty heads" yada yada, are as much a part of the problem as anything. no harm intended, but i think you are the one who needs to get real. you have no idea what my "view of the world is". you have no idea, but you don't hesitate to speculate and assume. i am far more balanced than any beamer driving idiot who likes to show off his car by dropping off three cans at a recycling transfer station (gee, what a prominent crowd to hypothetically impress). i am also far more fair and level headed than i think you could ever be by instigating such personal crap. i merely pointed out that folks shutting down devices for a token period of time is a symbolic jesture representing their awareness of what they perceive as a cause and effect relationship between energy use and climate change. i didn't argue for or against those views, i simple stated that the effort was a show of personal belief and not a conspiracy to cause power outages.

watch out for those methane fumes from the cattle. i think they are getting to you.

have a nice day.

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this message has probably been edited to correct typos, spelling errors and to improve grammar...

"All that is gold does not glitter..."

I'm not rich by all means!! I drive a 1989 pick up I do recycle and use oil lanterns in the morning and evening!! I raise a garden and can and also raise a few rabbits. I don't live in the country as I wish I could. But when we don't stand together as one voice that voice is not heard. It is great on how we try to save and live as frugal as possible and in turn it does some good even if it is only for our selves. But what does it hurt to stand together.

My family is very frugal in our usage on a daily basis.
But we could still see a useful purpose for a "token gesture" like this, and
some of the negative, spit and fire responses on this thread were shocking!

I think it boils down to differences in our world view.

I'll try to sum mine up quickly, and then you can stone me for it at your leisure.
Based on this fact -
"… Inequalities in consumption are stark... the world’s people in the highest-income countries .... the richest fifth:
Consume 58% of total energy, the poorest fifth less than 4%. "

We personally feel there are 2 reasons that this issue needs to be fixed and is given a priority in our lives:
We believe it's immoral; we do not believe US citizens have any more "entitlement" to electricity than others.
We believe that our habit of exploiting the world's resources will not be tolerated by the rest of the world much longer, and we expect the issue will come to blows if we don't act on the issue of our own accord.

Although this particular "token gesture" was not very well orchestrated, I think such a gesture, if done well, would send an important message to
the rest of the world.

So back to world views....
you either care about the other people on the planet, or you don't.
You might try counting your blessings that you have a choice about participating in a "gesture" or not.

Reading this thread like sitting at the thanksgiving table with a bunch of people who are saying, "Why bother with token words of thanks, just let me eat!"

No wonder the rest of the world believes Americans are a bunch of greedy idiots. Most of em are!

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I don't want to be confrontational - truly I don't.

If you want to do it and you feel it is doing some good - go for it.

It is just that symbolic gestures bother me - that's what they are symbolic, they don't solve anything.

Mightn't a better gesture be to pick out one energy eater and decide to never use it again and don't choose another more energy eating way to do the task. Just make a decision that from now on, we will not eat toast, just plain bread, or whatever.

Maybe get rid of the dryer and line dry all clothes -

You know when people feel so good about serving Thanksgiving dinner to the homeless - what about the other day of the year?

Mightn't the symbolic gesture say to the rest of the world, we are only going to give lip service to energy conservation? Mightn't it do just the opposite and say we aren't serious about it. It might almost seem like an insult to them.

As I said, if you feel it will help, by all means do it and I am only offering some other thoughts on the matter. Just thinking.

Of course, personally, it's not what the rest of the world thinks in this matter that concerns me. It is what we are going to do in this country if we don't do something about the problem.

Here in Texas, 11 or 16 (depending on reports) new coal power plants proposed, Texas is one of the target states for the nuclear plants that are proposed, we already have the lion's share of oil refineries. Soon you won't be able to breathe in this state.

Of course we have a big coastline and the wind blows a lot down there. Why has no one proposed putting wind generators out there? It's not like Texas coastlines are pristine, protected places, because for the most part, they aren't. It's not like we don't have oil derricks out there.

We get sunshine for upteen days a year, why isn't anyone proposing we try to make solar power affordable for individuals?

Yes, energy consumption concerns me greatly - I want more than symbolic gestures.

I see what you're saying, but I just don't view it as an either/or issue.
I think these symbolic gestures do solve something - they increase awareness, for one thing.
It's unfortunate that so many people won't take a step unless it's onto a bandwagon, but the fact is too many are like that. They won't budge until the idea is "popular".

I also think that folks who don't want to participate have every right not to.
It was the viciousness of the negative comments that was telling.

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