Montana keeps the lights on
by Pete Talbot
I had to go to that bastion of investigative journalism, Google news, to learn about it. Nothing in our local media — print, radio or TV — and nothing in the statewide press.
The rest of the world seemed clued in: the Philippines, China, New Zealand, Kenya, Brazil; even Dallas, the progressive Mecca of Texas, got in the swing.
They all turned off their lights for one hour Saturday. It was called Earth Hour and it was promoted by the World Wildlife Fund to call attention to global warming. This isn’t new. It’s been going on for four years now.
Granted, it’s a symbolic gesture but it did cut energy demand — by five percent in some cities. It’s also an effective educational tool. It would certainly get the attention of my grandkids if the TV, Playstation, computer, lights, stereo, etc. were turned off for an hour on Saturday night and we did something family-like by candle light.
But I guess Montana won’t be affected by declining fossil fuel reserves or by climate change. No need for us to join the rest of the world. Ignorance is bliss.
-
Recent Comments
lizard19 on Who Can Can Engstrom? Pancho on Who Can Can Engstrom? petetalbot on Who Can Can Engstrom? petetalbot on Is UM Discriminating Against F… Who Can Can Engstrom… on Is UM Discriminating Against F… Steve W on Is UM Discriminating Against F… Ryan Morton on Is UM Discriminating Against F…
March 28, 2010 at 12:06 pm
Nope, well aware of Earth Hour.
Not to worry, my Northwestern Energy meter was spinning like a top for the entire time!
March 28, 2010 at 6:44 pm
Yeah, fuck you hippies! Saving anything is for losers … fucking hippies.
March 28, 2010 at 7:04 pm
and thanks to racicot and your party’s deregulation of Montana Power, it costs more too swede….
why not light up another cigar with a franklin to celebrate, swede.
March 28, 2010 at 5:14 pm
Maybe MT left their lights on because the majority of them agree with Ross McKitrick.
“The whole mentality around Earth Hour demonizes electricity. I cannot do that, instead I celebrate it and all that it has provided for humanity…. It invites people to become sanctimonious do-gooders by turning off trivial appliances for a trivial amount of time, in service of some ill-understood abstract concept of “the Earth,” all the while hypocritically retaining the real benefits of electricity.
…….
I don’t want to go back to nature. Haiti just went back to nature. For humans, living in “Nature” meant a short life span marked by violence, disease and ignorance. People who work to end poverty and disease are fighting against nature. I hope they leave their lights on.
……
…through the use of pollution control technology and advanced engineering, our air quality has dramatically improved since the 1960s despite the expansion of industry and the power supply. If, after all this, we are going to take the view that the remaining air emissions outweigh all the benefits of electricity, and that we ought to be shamed into sitting in darkness for an hour, like naughty children who have been caught doing something bad, then we are setting up unspoiled nature as an absolute, transcendent ideal that obliterates all other ethical and humane obligations. No thanks. I like visiting nature but I don’t want to live there, and I refuse to accept the idea that civilization is something to be ashamed of.
Ross McKitrick
March 28, 2010 at 10:49 pm
That’s quite a tangent. All I have to say to that is Micheal Jackson and Police Academy IV left seaweed easements in drug smuggling terrorists Robert Mapplethorpe.
March 29, 2010 at 5:15 pm
I turned all my lights on, left my computer and tv on and cranked the heat. Dammit, someone had to use all the extra electricity!
March 30, 2010 at 8:56 am
“I like visiting nature but I don’t want to live there…”
Is it possible to be any more clueless than THAT?