Earth Hour Photos Highlight Problem of Light Pollution

There’s been a lot of disagreement, even among environmentalists, about how effective Earth Hour really is in sending a message about the need to fight global warming. But regardless of whether you feel it’s an important and powerful symbolic act or think it does more harm than good, one thing is clear when viewing the dramatic Earth Hour photos from around the world: light pollution is out of control.

Boston.com has an incredible series of images depicting cities from Hong Kong to Las Vegas going dark, showing before-and-after photos that make you realize how alarmingly bright most cities are. And, most of these lights aren’t necessarily adding to safety – they’re simply for looks.

When you click on the images on the Boston.com site, you can see the difference between the city being fully lit and when a number of key lights were turned off during Earth Hour. Check out how much the sky darkens when the lights are turned off.

Light pollution isn’t just a nuisance for our eyes; it’s an environmental issue. National Geographic explains:

We’ve lit up the night as if it were an unoccupied country, when nothing could be further from the truth. Among mammals alone, the number of nocturnal species is astonishing. Light is a powerful biological force, and on many species it acts as a magnet, a process being studied by researchers such as Travis Longcore and Catherine Rich, co-founders of the Los Angeles-based Urban Wildlands Group. The effect is so powerful that scientists speak of songbirds and seabirds being “captured” by searchlights on land or by the light from gas flares on marine oil platforms, circling and circling in the thousands until they drop. Migrating at night, birds are apt to collide with brightly lit tall buildings; immature birds on their first journey suffer disproportionately.

Light pollution has disturbed precisely timed biological behavior, affecting migration in some species and causing others to sing at unnatural times. Nesting sea turtles are confused by artificial light, and nocturnal animals have become more visible to predators.

And yet, Earth Hour has proven how easy it is to remedy these problems – with the flip of a switch. Why should the Syndey Opera House be fully illuminated at all hours of the night? Why must so many street lights be designed in such a way that they light up the sky instead of the ground? Reducing light pollution doesn’t mean we all need to sit around in the dark. It’s just about smarter use of illumination.

I can’t put it any better than National Geographic’s Verlyn Klinkenborg:

Living in a glare of our own making, we have cut ourselves off from our evolutionary and cultural patrimony—the light of the stars and the rhythms of day and night. In a very real sense, light pollution causes us to lose sight of our true place in the universe, to forget the scale of our being, which is best measured against the dimensions of a deep night with the Milky Way—the edge of our galaxy—arching overhead.

Link [Boston.com] via [Ecorazzi] + [National Geographic]

Turn Off the Lights Tonight for Earth Hour 2009

Tonight, March 28th at 8:30pm, you’ll have the opportunity to ‘Vote Earth’ with the flick of a switch. Earth Hour 2009 is a global call to action for every individual, every business and every community to pledge their support for the earth by turning off the lights for one hour. 2,848 cities, towns and municipalities in 84 countries have already committed to Vote Earth – will you be joining us?

It’s all part of an effort to raise awareness about the need for action on global warming. This year, by becoming a part of Earth Hour, you’ll be participating in the world’s first global election between global warming and the earth. The results will be presented at the Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. The goal is one billion votes for Earth, to send the message to world leaders that we, citizens of planet Earth, demand action against global warming.

Spread the word to your friends, family and everyone you run into today to make sure they know about Earth Hour.  In addition to telling people in person, here are a few more ways you can help:

TWITTER

Say as much as you can about VOTE EARTH in 140 characters. In the countdown to Earth Hour, you can let others know about what you’re up to every step of the way. Make sure you include ‘#VOTEEARTH’ in all tweets so others can follow your messages.

WRITE A BLOG

Start a conversation about VOTE EARTH. The results of the election will be presented at the Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen 2009, so we need you to help get the world talking! Tag your blog so others can join in, with tags like ‘VOTE EARTH’, ‘Earth Hour’, ‘Copenhagen’, and ‘global warming’.

EMAIL A FRIEND

Let your friends know about VOTE EARTH. If you tell your friends, they’ll tell their friends, then they’ll tell their friends, and you’ll be responsible for getting a lot of votes for Earth. You can also set up email reminders for Earth Hour, and let your friends know about registering at earthhour.org/voteearth.

SIGN UP

I’m Fuc- I Mean, Flicking the Lights Off

Earlier this year, Sarah Silverman took the internet by storm with her hilarious music video, “I’m Fucking Matt Damon”. It was only a matter of time before parodies and copies began showing up, but this one’s got a green twist: it was made to promote Earth Hour, Saturday March 28th at 8:30pm, when millions of people around the world will turn off their lights for one hour.

“You know, we had a great run, lamp. And, uh, I hope there’s no hard feelings… I hope we can be friends… I’m friends with all my old appliances.”

For comparison and just because it’s funny, here’s the original:

Don’t forget to turn the lights off for Earth Hour! Get more info at EarthHour.org.

Link [YouTube] + [EarthHour.org]

EarthFirst Blog Week in Review March 24-28

Pub note: We’re a little late posting this, April Fools Day got us all spun around, what can we say.

Last week was just another freak show around here at Earth First. We came down with our own little bout of March Madness and covered all kinds of crazy shit from an insanely talented elephant to veggie-friendly strippers to Britney Spears actually doing something productive and positive! Mr. Cranky Green bitched and moaned about the pointlessness of EarthHour and then stuck it to those dirty, silly hippies by ratcheting up his energy use that hour. We bet he’s pumped for Energy Wasting Day. Have a great week and remember that mother earth comes first. And she likes being on top.

• Fabulosity – Kimora Lee’s Adventures in Doggie Diamonds (Literally)
• Hillary Clinton Does the Waffle Dance Around Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining
• Fake Steve Jobs is Mad He Wasn’t Invited to Join Richard Branson’s Secret Planet Saving Club
• Britney Spears Does a Turn for The Environment: Auctioning Waredrobe for the Natural Resources Defense Council
• Creationist Science Tours: Helping Build Tomorrow’s Crack Ass Backwards Fundamentalist Christians
• How Now See Through Cow- Front Row View on a Bovine Stomach
• Q & A with Mr. Cranky Green: Snowy Winter = Global Warming Called Off? and Adventures in Wind Credits
• Is Helix A Green(er) Film Production? Will Be Shot In One Take
• Video Shows Growth of Wal-Mart Matches Outbreak of Infectious Disease
• The Pedal Pub Allows You to Burn Your Calories and Brain Cells At The Same Time
• Developing Nations Struggle to Cope with Rising Food Prices, Once Again The Poor Get Screwed
• Head For the Hills, Stock Up The Larder, And Git Yer Guns Loaded, Another Huge Antarctic Ice Shelf has Collapsed
• For The Millionare Who Has Everything: The CarLoft Means Never Having To Say Hello (To Your Neighbors)
• 
• Watch Your Favorite Green Eps of South Park Online- Trey and Matt Set SP Free
• Bash Back at Bulk Mail: Send a Brick Back to Bulk Mailers on Their Dime- Legally!
• Carrotmob: Harnessing People’s Dollars To Drive Businesses Green
• Payback is a Bitch: Treekilling Aussies Get Punked with Huge View-Blocking Box
• Oh The Humanity! Economic Downturn Impacting Wives of Rich Asshole Bankers
• Tinkering with Packaging: McDonalds Looking For Ways to Suck Less
• Green Vaporwear, Hucksterism, and Electric Cars- Wired Magazine Unloads on Zap!
• Excuse Me, I’m Going to Need This to Run My Car, Or The Insanity of Food Based Biofuels
• This Day in Green History: March 27th, 1513- Ponce de Leon Discovers Florida
• The Vegan Stripper: Casa Diablo Gentlemens Club Combines Hot Naked Ladies with Animal Free Eatin’
• Do Your Part- April 1st is Energy Wasting Day
• Vanity Fair’s Greenwashed Cover: There’s Nothing Green About Madonna
• Great Jebus’s Ghost! Video- An Elepant Freakin’ Painting a Picture of Herself
• President Bush To Throw First Pitch At New Green Stadium, Up is Down, War is Peace
• Catch Us After You Plug Back In: EarthFirst is Liveblogging Earth Hour Tonight 8-9pm
• March 29th- Live Blogging Earth Hour: Because Someone Had To
• Dastardly Seal Hunters Die After Boat Flips in Rough Water- No Miracle Seals Come to the Rescue
• As The Boos Rained Down: President Bush Throws Out First Pitch in Green(er) Stadium

March 29th- Live Blogging Earth Hour: Because Someone Had To

We’re live blogging Earth Hour.

8:10 pm- Ahh…. It’s nice to have the Green Blogosphere all to myself. Treehugger, EcoGeek, GroovyGreen, and WorldChanging are all dark and abandoned ghost towns. I’m sitting in the ol’ living room with all the lights in the house on watching an hour long marathon of Cops. I’m warming my feet with a plug in heater and have a few pieces of toast in the toaster. I’ll make some hot chocolate in the microwave in a bit.

8:18- A good Cops so far, they just took out a guy running from them. Looks like it’s time to bust some crack heads. Stupid cops.

8:22- Nice- only four and a half minutes on high in the microwave to heat up a big ass mug of half and half hot chocolate.

8:25- I just turned up the radio downstairs real loud, every kilowatt helps. You can barely hear it with the door shut.

8:27- Just noticed an outside light that I had missed. Flicked it on.

8:30- First Cops is over, one more to go.

8:32- Plugging in the Foreman Grill, it’s grilled cheese and Fluff time!

8:34- Nice, a good looking lady cop in Sacramento. She’s got the taser!

8:35- We’ve got a chase on our hands!

8:36- Oh yeah, I’ve seen this one on Hulu. The guy had a good hiding spot (in the recycling bin), but the damn dog tracked him down.

8:40- Awesome! I found a big ass light and disco ball in the basement from back in the college days. I wonder how much juice that sucker pulls. I hope everyone in the dark is having a good break away from the grid. I’m thinking of you and doing my part to use the extra energy now flooding the system. I’m helping to stabilize the load- I’m a damn hero.

8:43- Now is a good time to plug in all my rechargeable batteries.

8:44- I love seeing rich white guys get busted on Cops. I also love warm clothes right out of the dryer. Popped in another load to wash and dry.

8:48- The floodlights I plugged in outside is melting down into the snow. I can’t stand how cops just slime their way into searching you and your car. Everyone should see Busted: A Citizen’s Guide to Surviving Police Encounters.

8:50- It’ll be nice when the rest of the world plugs back in. It’s lonely in here.

8:53- Blender is out- mmmm…. super thick milkshake.

8:54- Suspicious Vehicle in Broward County. The guy isn’t getting off the cell phone or rolling down the window.

8:56- Well it’s was a great hour live blogging Earth Hour. Going to make some coffee to ice up for tomorrow in the last few minutes.

8:59- That’s it for me tonight, shutting down and going to sleep. I’ve got to wake up early to go to my second job at Wal-Mart. How else do you think I’m going to be able to pay the power bill from today?

9:01 pm- Welcome back everyone.

Sit In the Dark For An Hour To Save the World-Does Earth Hour REALLY Make Sense?

OK, I see the value of the symbolism behind Earth Hour and appreciate the ‘awareness’ it’s raising, but do we really want to be telling everyone that the way to save the planet from ourselves is by sitting in a dark house? Doesn’t the other side accuse us of wanting to push the world back to a Stone Age of no cars, hot showers, or lighting after sunset? Doesn’t telling everyone that they have to turn off their lights for an hour kinda support that accusation? Isn’t the idea to find a way that we can all stay up after the sun goes down without having to destroy the environment to do it?

I’m just saying…

Link [Earth Hour]