Damn!! Damn!! Damn!! Had only the computer, icandescent globes, TV, video, fridge, microwave ON!! Damn!! Damn!! Forgot the dishwasher!!!

Climate scientists warn that Australia: condemned by prolonged drought and increasingly deadly bush fires in the south, monsoon flooding and mosquito inflicted fevers in the north, declining wildlife population, collapse of agriculture and killer heat waves, epitomizes the “accelerated climate crisis” that global warming models have forecast.

Many Australians feel they already have a death toll connected directly to climate change. 173 people died in the countries worst ever wildfires in February 2009. A royal commission has been called upon to decide weather global warming contributed to the savage bush fires that destroyed whole towns and a quarter of Victoria’s wildlife. A further 200 people died in a heatwave a week before the fires, that saw 4 days of temperatures at 110 degrees and higher as well as 100mph winds. The heat buckled the steel structure on a new 400 foot Ferris wheel and warped train tracks. On the hottest day, more than 4,000 gray headed flying foxes dropped dead out of trees in a Melbourne park.

(Reuters) – Australia experienced its hottest decade on record from 2000 to 2009 due to global warming, the nation’s bureau of meteorology said on Tuesday, as annual summer bushfires again burn drought lands and destroy homes.

“The world’s wildest weather of last year was in Australia, where every month brought disasters. The new year began with Melbourne withering under its worst recorded heatwave and the outskirts of Sydney facing wildfires. In February more than 200 people died in bush fires northeast of Melbourne, 48.8C (119.8F) was recorded in Victoria and floods hit Queensland.”

Earth Hour is supported by 4000 cities in a record 125 countries. It also includes 1200 landmarks, among them the Pyramids, the Tower of Pisa and the Eiffel Tower.

For the first time, the Forbidden city in Beijing is also be taking part, along with 20 cities across China, despite the country’s resistance at Copenhagen.

Earth Hour began in Sydney in 2007 when 2.2 million people switched off the lights in their homes, offices and businesses for 60 minutes to make a point about electricity consumption and carbon pollution.

I’m sorry. I’m being mean. It’s quite likely that the media in Australia hasn’t bothered publishing information concerning the uncovering of the Global warming hoax. That’s not your fault. That’s why I’ve posted articles here, for you to read.

Lisa,

Are you seriously suggesting that Australia is lying about their temperatures? LOL….guess you think it’s a major conspiracy and the government got into all our homes and changed our thermometers for fake ones. LOL.

Lisa,

I don’t rely on what the government tells me, or what some blogger tells me. The stats speak for themselves. Perhaps you should do some research and make up your own mind rather than rely on what other people tell you.

Re links…can’t post them here. But easy enough for anyone who knows how to use google to find.

I’m not going to debate this with someone who relies on what other people are saying to form the basis of their argument. The stats speak for themselves. The end.

Ok. Don’t debate.

I’ve got to go find more electronics to turn on anyway…

You are absolutely right. I almost tripped over the baby and stepped on the dog trying to reach the vaccumn to turn it on.

Estampa,

You need not worry about Australia’s wealth. We didn’t even have a recession here! And our economy is thriving.

If you want to believe people’s opinions over the data, that’s a matter for you. As I said before, I’m just glad most people are educated on this point and that Earth Hour has been such a success. There will always be people like you and Lisa. Thankfully most of us care enough about children and animals not to behave like you two do.

As I said before a big “good on ya mate” to those that care enough about the world we are passing on to our little ones and participated in Earth Hour!!!

Estampa,

Do you think it’s the USA’s “me me me” approach and greed is what caused your recession and hardship to so many of your population? Perhaps you could learn something from the Aussies to avoid that happening again.

“Me” – I thought you’d said goodnight and were done with us!

Yes, you are absolutely right again. It is our greed that has caused all our problems. Thanks for pointing the way toward our betterment.

By the way – I just added a couple more twitters that are planning on lighting up tonight.

Now – that’s not to say their the only ones! I’m just too busy answering you and keeping all my whiring electronic gadgets out of the reach of the children and dogs to keep close eye on what’s happening on twitter 🙂

There, all done with the gadgets in the house…Wait! There’s power tools in the garage!

And I should have added, good on Obama for bringing you guys up to date with the rest of the western world by finally introducing global health care. Hard to believe how long you have had to go without it!

And, thanks to your recession and our booming economy, I’ve been able to visit your fine country four times this year….LA, Vegas, NYC!! And I know enough about your country to know that most people don’t share your simplistic view of global warming.

Lisa,

It was your rude comments towards Australia and Australians that prompted me to post what I did….

Lisa said,in March 27th, 2010 at 4:13 pm

Go ahead and believe your government if you choose – I’ll believe those that are digging up real facts, as well as the proof of fraud in your facts.

Yes, we’d heard that Australia was responsible for this “Earth Hour”. We’d also heard that it was thought up in a Pub over a few beers.
—————————–
Lisa said,in March 27th, 2010 at 4:26 pm
I’m being mean. It’s quite likely that the media in Australia hasn’t bothered publishing information concerning the uncovering of the Global warming hoax.
————————-
EstampaNegra said,in March 27th, 2010 at 5:48 pm
“me”, you’d best spend your time reading so your politicians don’t transfer all your wealth for an illegal and worthless cap and trade.
——————————————-

So, if you don’t want off topic comments, don’t post off topic insults towards other countries.

And I’m shocked you are able to remove comments…I thought only Jan & Simon had the power to do that.

Lisa,

You might be interested to know that our “Liberal Party” are conservatives, and just had a 12 year consecutive run at governing the country. Perhaps before you pretend to be an expert on Australia, and assume we are uneducated liberals who dream up policies while drunk in pubs, you might want to get yourself a bit better educated about us.

“Socially, the Liberal Party is a conservative party, although it has a minority socially liberal wing. In recent years, during the Prime Ministership of John Howard, the party moved to a more socially conservative policy agenda.” from Wikipedia.

Please! You are insulting our country! Insinuating that we can’t afford to go to school? That our conservative’s aren’t as conservative as yours? I’m shocked.

Education Time:

1) Only one time Zone in America has reached 8:30 at this point.

2) I can guarantee that most conservatives in this country are NOT turning their lights off. Many have spent a full day today protesting, attending TeaParty rallies, listening to Sarah Palin and Ann Coulter, and writing their Congressmen in protest of that Awful health care bill, horrible cap & trade, and ficticous global warming. By now, they are tired and want nothing more than to relax in their homes, with their lights, TV’s, and a hot dinner, and play video games. Most, I can guarantee, have no interest in Australia’s Earth Hour.

3) Conservatives in America are strongly against “Global Health Care,” Government control over the funding of our higher Education, and Global Warming fanatics. You see, American conservatives are 100% Anti-socialism.

I guarantee it.

Didn’t you say good night awhile ago?

Back to Topic. It’s almost 8:30 here – and I forgot to turn on the porch light…

From The Independent UK…

Australia has warned that it will have to switch off the water supply to the continent’s food bowl unless heavy rains break an epic drought – heralding what could be the first climate change-driven disaster to strike a developed nation.

The Murray-Darling basin in south-eastern Australia yields 40 per cent of the country’s agricultural produce. But the two rivers that feed the region are so pitifully low that there will soon be only enough water for drinking supplies. Australia is in the grip of its worst drought on record, the victim of changing weather patterns attributed to global warming and a government that is only just starting to wake up to the severity of the position.

Until a few months ago, Mr Howard and his ministers pooh-poohed the climate-change doomsayers. The Prime Minister refused to meet Al Gore when he visited Australia to promote his documentary, An Inconvenient Truth. He was lukewarm about the landmark report by the British economist Sir Nicholas Stern, which warned that large swaths of Australia’s farming land would become unproductive if global temperatures rose by an average of four degrees.

Faced with criticism from even conservative sections of the media, Mr Howard realised that he had misread the public mood – grave faux pas in an election year. Last month’s report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicted more frequent and intense bushfires, tropical cyclones, and catastrophic damage to the Great Barrier Reef. The report also said there would be up to 20 per cent more droughts by 2030. And it said the annual flow in the Murray-Darling basin was likely to fall by 10-25 per cent by 2050. The basin, the size of France and Spain combined, provides 85 per cent of the water used nationally for irrigation.

Just saw some really cool pics of NYC this evening…so dark…so happy to see that so many people care about the next generation!

The lights on the strip in Vegas are also going out for an hour!!!

Glad to see that so many Americans care about the world, the wildlife, and our children’s futures!

Show me a link to pictures of a dark New York. I want to see them, too!

Honestly, I do feel sorry that a fluctuation in the climate cycle has hit Australia as hard as it has. By the way, I shortened one of the last three rambles you’ve posted. Repeating the same paragraphs over and over is not acceptable. It’s akin to spamming. I reduced it back to once said.

Now, I’ve got excited kids to tuck back into bed. It’ll be hard to get them back to sleep, what with the glow coming in their windows, but if I pretend to be a good mom for 15 minutes, and sing them a lullabye, they might manage to nod off.

Lisa,

We all know your neighborhood is not glowing with lights. It is obvious that most of your country participates in this momentous hour.

Google nyc and earth hour and pictures and you’ll find an abundance of them…Broadway Marquees went dark, the Chrysler Center went dark, Empire State Building etc. They’ve got great aerial photos.

Mount Rushmore is also going dark. The whole world is participating, and it started in Australia!!! I think the problem is that many Americans, like you, learn so little about the rest of the world, and what goes on outside your own borders. That anyone would encourage behaviour that is killing native animals, making farming impossible, threatening water supplies, and killed almost 300 people in australia last year, is disappointing. But, seeing how many educated and caring people did participate is heart warming, and all those people should be patted on the back for doing their bit for the next generation. Hopefully by next year you’ll educate yourself about this real problem and cheer with the rest of your country when the lights go out.

From the LA Times…

Europe’s best-known landmarks — including the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben and Rome’s Colosseum — fell dark Saturday, following Sydney’s Opera House and Beijing’s Forbidden City in a global climate change protest across the world to mark Earth Hour.

In the United States, organizers said participating landmarks would include the Mt. Rushmore monument, the glittering Las Vegas Strip and the marquee lights of New York’s Broadway theaters. Millions of people turned off lights and appliances for an hour starting at 8:30 p.m. to highlight environmental concerns.

This was the fourth annual Earth Hour. As each time zone reaches the appointed hour, skylines go dark and landmarks dim, from a Manila shopping mall to Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate and New York’s Empire State Building.

About 4,000 cities in more than 120 countries, starting with the remote Chatham Islands off New Zealand, took part Saturday to reduce energy consumption, though traffic lights and other safety features were unaffected, organizers said.

“We have everyone from Casablanca to the safari camps of Namibia . . . taking part,” said Greg Bourne of World Wildlife Fund in Australia, which started the event in 2007.
Copyright © 2010, The Los Angeles Times

Also from the Las Vegas Sun….

The Fremont Street Experience in downtown Las Vegas also joined other landmarks around the world by turning off the lights.

Just before 8:30 p.m., a brief video explanation of Earth Hour played on the giant Via Vision canopy before the so-called “World’s Biggest Big Screen” went dark for 60 minutes.

Fremont Street vendors prepared for the event by distributing green glowing necklaces to visitors.

Springs Preserve partiers watch the bright lights go out

Las Vegas residents at the Earth Hour viewing party at the Springs Preserve enjoyed the sights and sounds from inside the Wolfgang Puck Café. Three local bands performed during the event: Hungry Cloud, The Petals and Mother McKenzie.

The sentiment at the Springs Preserve was not just the anticipation of witnessing the historical participation of Strip Casinos going dark, but making a case for every day to be an Earth Hour day.

Hall said she was ensuring that she does her part in leaving her little space of the Earth well-kept for the next generation.

——————————

Yep, Hall is just one of many Americans who care about the next generation.

Sorry – we homeschool. I’m their only teacher! (a lot of us American Conservatives do that 🙂

I should explain why I feel sorry for them…

1. They miss out on being properly socialised;
2. They miss out on extra-curricular activities;
3. Every child should have the opportunity to attend a college or university. Home schooling takes that opportunity away from them and limits them to a life of menial jobs.

Anyhow, if you can’t afford private school, and you are a bit of a religious nut or paranoid about your child socialising with other children, I suppose that’s the selfish choice some make.

Lisa,

What in the world does being liberal have to do with climate change?

As you can see, I didn’t lie about the Vegas article…you just didn’t look properly before you accused me of lying….glad you found it.

You don’t speak for all Americans…not even close. Hopefully you’ll do some research and learn that climate change is happening. I believe most educated Americans understand this, just as most educated Aussies do.

And Vegas did go dark for earth hour, so don’t know what you are carrying on about. And how you can use the word “conservative” in the same sentence as “Las Vegas” is beyond me! LOL. Yeah, lots of conservatives living there, NOT! Have you ever travelled, been to Vegas? It’s hardly a conservative town!

Anyhow, whatever.

Hey ME, here’s the deal: While the debate about Global Warming in general goes on, the issue that’s being discussed here is Man-Made Global Warming (or Anthropogenic Global Warming as it’s being called these days). Whether the temperature of the Earth is increasing or not, we aren’t causing it. That’s the sham here.

I’m sorry that Australia has had record hot temps in the last decade. The rest of the world has not. In any case, humans are not the cause of your woes…the Sun is. Why don’t you start protesting against the Sun? Perhaps it will do you a favor and flame out.

Lisa said,in March 28th, 2010 at 12:27 am

You just might have benefited from a good Homeschool mom.
—————————————–

Insulting my mother is just not on….as low as you can go in fact.

I had a mother with a very successful career as a politician, and a father who was a Doctor. They made sure we got the very best education, and the end result was three of their children became lawyers. The end result was I received a fantastic education from great role models.

I won’t stoop as low as you did with the mother comment, but I will say, you clearly do not have the same level of education as I do, and I feel sorry for you. There are many uneducated people who will agree with you….that’s your problem and their problem. I’m finished with your ignorant garbage.

Sorry to disappoint you all…but Vegas did go dark. Many Americans are well educated and did participate.

From the Las Vegas Sun

Saturday, March 27, 2010 | 10:15 p.m.

Earth Hour
The strip of highway known for its iconic neon went dark for a global cause Saturday night.

From the “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign to the sky-high beam of the Luxor, Las Vegas dimmed its lights from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. Saturday for the third annual Earth Hour.

Las Vegas shut off its lights in solidarity with more than 4,000 cities in 120 countries to send a message about climate change and the importance of energy conservation. The city was named a showcase city for the World Wildlife Fund’s annual event.
=———————–

So, who’s the liar??

i guess the 1 billion people around the globe who participated in this event are wrong but you American conservatives are privy to some special knowledge that noone else has???

ME said: “Chas,

Good for you. As they say ‘ignorance is bliss.'”

Apparently so, as you seem to be quite happy.

Let’s see: Mom’s a politician, and you (or at least three of your siblings, as you didn’t specify whether you were one of them) became a lawyer. Bully for you and yours. It’s too bad that politicians and lawyers are two of the things this planet could do with a lot less of (and, unfortunately, they often tend to be both). As a matter of fact, those two classes of people are largely responsible for the current state of MMGW. The politicians promote it, while the lawyers argue it. Neither of these make it any less of a lie, however.

I do believe that Al Gore (whose father was a politician and mother was a lawyer, incidentally) truly believes that he’s doing the right thing with his MMGW crusade. After all, he’s been on the environmental trail since the sixties (making him a true hippie). And I truly have no ill-will towards him; not only did I vote for him for President in 2000 (an election that he both won and lost), but I wrote letters encouraging him to run for President again in 2004 and 2008. Heck, I’d probably vote for him again in 2012 if Obama decided not to run for a second term. Regardless, however, he’s making a lot of profit from the MMGW business. They don’t call him a “carbon billionaire” for nothing.

By the way, I’m a voter that has been registered as an Independent for the 28 years that I’ve been allowed to vote. I’ve voted for both Republicans and Democrats for president in the past (Reagan, Reagan, Bush [Senior, not his idiot son], Clinton, Clinton, Gore, Kerry [only because neither Gore nor McCain would run] and Obama). I have no particular political agenda, I vote for the president that I think will best represent my country. (Also, I strongly apologize to the world for Bush Junior having served for eight years…I tried to avoid it, but he managed to steal two elections. And now here we are, suffering from the huge mess that he created.)

You seem to have the politician bit in your blood too. You proudly proclaim that your father taught Medicine at Yale, as if that somehow reflects upon you. Then you dismiss Lisa as because she obviously “get that sort of education.” Classy, real classy…for a pompous ass.

I don’t know who Lisa is, by the way. I just wandered upon this blog last night because of a search on the stupid “Earth Hour” thing (isn’t the Internet amazing?) and felt compelled to comment because of your general attitude. And, based on your reply to me (“ignorance is bliss”), I think I obviously hit the nail on the head. You’ve been brainwashed by some of the best.

republicans are in the dark said:

“i guess the 1 billion people around the globe who participated in this event are wrong but you American conservatives are privy to some special knowledge that noone else has???”

Yes, they are wrong. It’s not their fault, however; they’ve been brainwashed by the people that are making a huge profit off of the MMGW scam.

And, by the way, although I am an American, I’m not a conservative. And the “special knowledge” is actually widely available on the Internet…all you have to do is look for it.

By the way, if you really believe that “1 billion people” participated in this event, then you’ve been duped again by the people that perpetuate the MMGW scam.

This is a hilarious collection of comments…I’ve read them all and will now bookmark your blog Lisa, you are exactly right and in a very entertaining way.

I’m so glad that Al Gore and his “fraudster friends” have been exposed for their snake oil scam.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/126560/americans-global-warming-concerns-continue-drop.aspx

Based upon “Me’s” logic, I suppose this means that we are becoming less and less educated in America.

And by the way “Me”, as far as requiring kids to pass tests before they can homeschool, I am all for it. Then we could clearly show just how much more intelligent they become after homeschooling, as opposed to our broken public propaga…ahem…I mean education system. Homeschoolers regularly outperform public schoolers by a large margin.

Thanks so much, Ronald and Spacely –

Unfortunately the AGW movement in Alberta with the NDP and their beloved carbon tax is on the move, and now we have a dolt like Trudeau in the Federal government of Canada wanting to shove his carbon tax down our throats too. The only green they see is the billions of dollars being fleeced from taxpayers. This is getting to get out of hand.

If anyone wants a good laugh check out
https://thebiggreenlie.wordpress.com/2012/04/01/earth-hour-is-a-friggin-joke-those-turning-off-lights-are-the-laughing-stock-of-the-world/