http://earthhour.smh.com.au/

Although this is, at this stage, targeting Sydney Australia I think this is something the whole world should be doing.

I say you can expect to hear more about this in your local area in the coming days, weeks, months, or worst case years.

Get involved anyhow. Make a positive difference instead of a negative one.

symbolism. nothing more.

saving an hours worth of electricity once is not going to achieve anything. sure, it makes people feel better, but it is just a distraction from the real issue of a need for systematic change in the way we produce and use electricity.*

it won't actually help and is probably a step backwards, leading people to believe that an insignificant reduction in electricity useage by households is going to save the earth**.



*whether we like it or not, we are completely fucked. carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere by the oceans, in a process that acidifies it. this process takes hundreds of years, and estimates put it at about two hundred years before carbon dioxide levels are anything near normal, assuming zero pollution tomorrow. the side effect of this is most coral will be dead within our lifetimes, bleaching caused by acidity is already killing off large amounts of the barrier reef. so the earth gets hotter for the next two centuries no matter what we do tomorrow, and the ocean dies because of it. it is no longer an issue of reducing emissions, if we expect to continue this way of life the solution lies in actively removing carbon gasses from the atmosphere.

**interestingly, what is happening now is the the fresh water locked in the Antarctic shelf is melting, and the density difference is stuffing with the currents. since the ocean absorbs 80% of the heat, and redistributes it, the effect of this lower density water will be drastic. these effects are already apparent now, with a different mechanism leading to altered currents. we are in for some wild weather (as a side, march this year produced both the coldest and hottest day for the month on record for my city).

Carbon Dioxide combining with water to make Carbonic Acid?

If that is simply the case its impact is devastating...but I suppose the salt plays it's part too.

I mean I remember reading my chemistry textbook and something that always stuck with me was the fact that ALL rain is slighty acidic because it combines with CO2 in the atmosphere however it wasn't anything enough to worry about. But in these times of everyone going CO2 mad you have to think will it become one.

As for labeling this as symbolism, well I take that as a good thing . I mean if this is simply a feel-good exercise, and it achieves its goal of making people feel good about helping the environment they will hopefully want to do it more and more until the rush of doing so fades, and the practice of being energy wise becomes the norm...just like a meth junkie lol.

Could we save the barrier reef by turning the water around it into a buffered solution?

H20+C20=H2CO3

So if you put fuckloads of carbonate salts in the water, it would resist pH change.

quote:Originally posted by shottyupaninfant:

Could we save the barrier reef by turning the water around it into a buffered solution?

H20+C20=H2CO3

So if you put fuckloads of carbonate salts in the water, it would resist pH change.

this is a very slow process, and while the idea is there, it is pretty impractical with tides and that. already the pH in the ocean has gone down by .1 (which makes it about twice as acidic as it was).

it is a losing battle, perhaps if it was realised in the 50's what was happening then it wouldn't be the issue it is now, but with current technology there is sweet fuck all we can do.

I thought it was absurd that they were doing live television coverage of the city turning the lights out.

I mean, just cover the fucking camera lens and you get the same effect.

But yeah, like someone else said, feel-good hippy bullshit.

So now the global warming apocalypse will arrive one hour later than scheduled.

Good thing we dodged that bullet.

I agree.

Shows that Global Warming is a religion.

no it doesn't. it just shows that people are far too attached to bullshit to realise that if we stand any chance of overcoming this then systematic change must occur.

actions like this are just the creations of (well meaning) idiots.

to say global warming is a religion is like saying medicine is a religion. they are both backed by the same amount of evidence.

I think the only thing Earth Hour really achieved was promoting awareness of Global Warming (To perhaps a handful of hobos living under bridges that hadn't been told yet...)

Carbon Dioxide is a piss weak acid.

You're looking at lemonade strength rain here.

We need to make a long term commitment to:

i) Reducing the amount of emmissions that lead to significant acid rain.

ii) Moving over to renewable, neutral fuel sources. Even if you don't follow CO2 being a cause of global warming, the fact remains, fossil fuels will run out.

-deus-

Carbon Dioxide is a piss weak acid.

You're looking at lemonade strength rain here.

It's carbonic acid, lemonade has a pH of like 3 from memory and piss would be basic wouldn't it? :P

it is a very weak acid, but it is plenty strong enough to eat calcium carbonate, which is what coral is mainly made of. the oceans will not dissolve our skin, but it is enough to ruin the eco-system.

It's still not nearly as strong as acids formed from sulphur and nitrogen oxide emissions.

-deus-