Does Earth Hour actually help the environment? Fri, March 25, 2011
Do you plan on sitting in the dark this Saturday night?
Around the world, people will make the symbolic gesture of showing they support a cleaner world and lower-carbon lifestyle by raising their carbon output.
Earth Hour, started in 2007, encourages people to show their support for the planet by turning their lights off and enjoying the world by candlelight. The problem, of course, is for most Canadians that means turning off a low-carbon energy source and burning pure fossil fuels.
The absurdity is likely lost on most professional environmentalists.
That is what we have been saying since we started in Afghanistan nearly five years ago. Clearly some Members of Parliament and some Canadians do not understand or do not agree.
It has been suggested that our soldiers are winning on the battlefield while the government is losing the war in the nation’s cable television system. We will try, today, to explain to Members of Parliament and to the people of Canada why we are in Afghanistan and why we need to stay the course.
First, Canadians ask: Are we fighting a war or trying to help the Afghan people to rebuild their country?
We answer: Both. Reconstruction is inadequate as long as there is an insurrection that will destroy our work as quickly as we produce it. Part of the rebuilding is capacity building. We are building the capacity of the Afghan government to fight its own battles & maintain its own security. However, until that capacity is built we need to carry a heavy load in the fight.
Second, Canadians ask: Is this mission winnable?
We answer: Yes, but the process is likely as long as a peacekeeping mission. Several years of a massive international military effort transitioning to many years of limited international military aid and finally to an all Afghan show. International humanitarian efforts follow a similar pattern but may even be required longer.
But, we should not expect to "win" anytime soon in the sense of being able to declare victory. What we can do is prevent the Government of Afghanistan from losing.
john, 2008-03-11 13:26:13
Please stay on topic Ray.
What does Canadian soldiers dieing for nothing in Afghanistan, dieing for the Americans,or the fact the Americans for years fully supported the Taliban and Bin Laden,have to do with a carbon tax or the current climate change problem we are facing through rightwingers non-caring of the environment?
powell very foolishly says..
"If global warming is real... then we should not see cooler temperatures (average) ever again."
That is just so silly a comment on such nonsense is not neccesary
EH?
tweetypie, 2008-03-11 08:50:21
Yes, I do actually. But it seems you're missing the point. The ones that want democracy and freedom didn't force it on themselves. It's the ones who don't want democracy and freedom that forced it on the ones that do. I don't think using force was the only option, here, but it does show that it happens, doesn't it?
Forced democracy is not a good thing but in some cases that IS the only option we have, and the case I outlined certainly shows that it does happen whether it is a good thing or not, doesn't it?
Matt,
I'm not saying that this should be the only thing that we should take a look at, in regards to lessening pollution of the environment, by ANY means, but it certainly can be part of the larger whole and I believe it is, at least, a start in the right direction, anyways, especially after so much wiffle-waffling over it, already.
Carla, 2008-03-10 23:14:06
That's the problem Carla we didn't force Democracy on them. They started this fight with state sponsored terrorism .Your way of thinking has got us into this trouble in the first place. Don't push Democracy and human rights and keep doing business as usual.Don't you think your middle eastern brothers and sisters deserve the freedom you have?
Ray, 2008-03-10 17:56:26
powell,
You're making the same flaw the global warming activists are making.
Climate change isn't a year over year, or even decade over decade effect. The timescale is just too short.
Matt, 2008-03-10 16:49:18
Here's the rub Carla... If global warming is real... then we should not see cooler temperatures (average) ever again. Last year, two major scientific institutes documented that the planet got COOLER last year.
SO if we are polluting more should we not have a continuous increase in planetary average temperature ?
This evidence was published on a CNN article and the institutes that established the study slip my mind.
But how could our planet be cooling if the population is increasing and pollution is increasing.. ?
The ECO-terrorists dont want us to think... just listen to their mantra of Gaia worship.
powell, 2008-03-10 16:29:59
Carla,
They don't know what causes climate change. It might be from human behaviour, but it could also be natural, ie solar flares, volcanit eruption, variation in earth/sun distance etc.
They do know that it has changed, there is evidence of both tropical vegitation and glaciers in most of Southern Canada.
I'm all for cleaner living, and less pollution. I'm just not enthusiastic with the specific emphasis on CO2 emissions from fossil fuels.
Matt, 2008-03-10 11:06:09
Matt, just because it has been much warmer and colder in the past has nothing to do with it. It's the general overall temperature that we're talking about, not just one specific place or time. If that was what you were talking about, then tell me how DID it get much colder and warmer in the past? Presumably by bypassing an average earth temperature much like the one we're experiencing today.
It seems to me, from what I've heard, that that average earth temperature is rising much faster than it ever has before.
Just because it doesn't seem like a problem, right now, doesn't mean we can't do anything about it, even if it is just an attempt to slow it down or to be generally healthier. It seems to me, by reading a lot of people's comments on this topic, that many want to distract the issue without providing any real comprehensive solutions themselves and any real reason not to put their support behind the environment.
Ray, if people did nothing that would hurt them then we wouldn't be sending soldiers to Afghanistan and Iraq and if people were living and believed in an unforced democracy in every way, we would not have legislated seatbelts and what have you in this country. Plus, we wouldn't be making (laughable) attempts to force "our" democracy on other countries.
Carla, 2008-03-10 01:23:39
wayne says..
"Oh and tweety if price is no object for your diet then you won't mind a carbon tax on it either."
Thats silly wayne.
EH?
tweetypie, 2008-03-07 19:36:28
Oh and tweety if price is no object for your diet then you won't mind a carbon tax on it either.
Glad to see you agree.
I love how you talk in circles and fry yourself every time.
Does Earth Hour actually help the environment? 
Ref: http://ruxted.ca/index.php?/archives/24-The-Afghanistan-Debate.html
Canada is in Afghanistan today to –
• help Afghanistan rebuild;
• defend our national interests; and
• ensure Canadian leadership in world affairs.
That is what we have been saying since we started in Afghanistan nearly five years ago. Clearly some Members of Parliament and some Canadians do not understand or do not agree.
It has been suggested that our soldiers are winning on the battlefield while the government is losing the war in the nation’s cable television system. We will try, today, to explain to Members of Parliament and to the people of Canada why we are in Afghanistan and why we need to stay the course.
First, Canadians ask: Are we fighting a war or trying to help the Afghan people to rebuild their country?
We answer: Both. Reconstruction is inadequate as long as there is an insurrection that will destroy our work as quickly as we produce it. Part of the rebuilding is capacity building. We are building the capacity of the Afghan government to fight its own battles & maintain its own security. However, until that capacity is built we need to carry a heavy load in the fight.
Second, Canadians ask: Is this mission winnable?
We answer: Yes, but the process is likely as long as a peacekeeping mission. Several years of a massive international military effort transitioning to many years of limited international military aid and finally to an all Afghan show. International humanitarian efforts follow a similar pattern but may even be required longer.
But, we should not expect to "win" anytime soon in the sense of being able to declare victory. What we can do is prevent the Government of Afghanistan from losing.
john, 2008-03-11 13:26:13
What does Canadian soldiers dieing for nothing in Afghanistan, dieing for the Americans,or the fact the Americans for years fully supported the Taliban and Bin Laden,have to do with a carbon tax or the current climate change problem we are facing through rightwingers non-caring of the environment?
powell very foolishly says..
"If global warming is real... then we should not see cooler temperatures (average) ever again."
That is just so silly a comment on such nonsense is not neccesary
EH?
tweetypie, 2008-03-11 08:50:21
Forced democracy is not a good thing but in some cases that IS the only option we have, and the case I outlined certainly shows that it does happen whether it is a good thing or not, doesn't it?
Matt,
I'm not saying that this should be the only thing that we should take a look at, in regards to lessening pollution of the environment, by ANY means, but it certainly can be part of the larger whole and I believe it is, at least, a start in the right direction, anyways, especially after so much wiffle-waffling over it, already.
Carla, 2008-03-10 23:14:06
Ray, 2008-03-10 17:56:26
You're making the same flaw the global warming activists are making.
Climate change isn't a year over year, or even decade over decade effect. The timescale is just too short.
Matt, 2008-03-10 16:49:18
SO if we are polluting more should we not have a continuous increase in planetary average temperature ?
This evidence was published on a CNN article and the institutes that established the study slip my mind.
But how could our planet be cooling if the population is increasing and pollution is increasing.. ?
The ECO-terrorists dont want us to think... just listen to their mantra of Gaia worship.
powell, 2008-03-10 16:29:59
They don't know what causes climate change. It might be from human behaviour, but it could also be natural, ie solar flares, volcanit eruption, variation in earth/sun distance etc.
They do know that it has changed, there is evidence of both tropical vegitation and glaciers in most of Southern Canada.
I'm all for cleaner living, and less pollution. I'm just not enthusiastic with the specific emphasis on CO2 emissions from fossil fuels.
Matt, 2008-03-10 11:06:09
It seems to me, from what I've heard, that that average earth temperature is rising much faster than it ever has before.
Just because it doesn't seem like a problem, right now, doesn't mean we can't do anything about it, even if it is just an attempt to slow it down or to be generally healthier. It seems to me, by reading a lot of people's comments on this topic, that many want to distract the issue without providing any real comprehensive solutions themselves and any real reason not to put their support behind the environment.
Ray, if people did nothing that would hurt them then we wouldn't be sending soldiers to Afghanistan and Iraq and if people were living and believed in an unforced democracy in every way, we would not have legislated seatbelts and what have you in this country. Plus, we wouldn't be making (laughable) attempts to force "our" democracy on other countries.
Carla, 2008-03-10 01:23:39
"Oh and tweety if price is no object for your diet then you won't mind a carbon tax on it either."
Thats silly wayne.
EH?
tweetypie, 2008-03-07 19:36:28
Glad to see you agree.
I love how you talk in circles and fry yourself every time.
you are so easy.
wayne, 2008-03-07 14:32:39