Decaflon

@Lelia: Thoughts well stated, thank you.

@Shadowsun7: You bring up an extremely valid point about this whole environment thing not only being about the earth's temperature rising a bit, but more on a widespread scale as you mentioned. Wildlife conservation and pollution (which technically contributes to "global warming", no?) are just more reasons to begin acting towards change, and away from neglect.

I must say one thing though...After observing lots of evidence from both sides of the pool regarding the validity of global warming, I've been lead to believe that global warming IS happening, but at a rather slow speed. This is why a lot of people believe that it's just a natural phase that the Earth is going through. And as Al Gore said, "just because we can't see it, smell it, or taste it, doesn't mean it's not there."

Our world today has the largest and dirtiest population the Earth has ever seen, and still growing dangerously fast, for the worst. The abuse the Earth is taking pumping hundreds of millions of pounds of oil and gas are not causing it harm? Honestly, do the millions of tons of CO2 vanish magically with a wave of a wand? Think about the amount of *junk* that goes into our landfills, the air that we breathe, and the contamination that's occurring in our seas, oceans, and other bodies of water. I don't mean to sound like a fanboy on crack or something, but if we think that global warming is not really happening, we will probably end up falling in a hole that will be really hard to climb out of.

There are so many starving nations in the world, yet so many fail to acknowledge or care about it - but there are a few of those that have stood up and realized the reality of it. A lot of us are gifted with the fact that we will probably be born and raised to an elderly age without ever experiencing hunger, or the lack of shelter. This, to me, is like our weakening environment (not just global warming). We don't see it, or experience it in any way, other than the media, this we tend to put it off to the side.

Maybe I'm just motivated for the wrong reasons to make a difference and change myself, and hopefully others, for the better. I come from a very poor country that hasn't experienced stability of any sort for a very, very long time. I was raised for the first few main years of my life in the types of places people would want to hang themselves in. I hate it so very much every time I hear about these terrible situations in the world, and would just hope that more people take some sort of action. Every so often I come to realize the opportunity that I've been given in America, and think back into the past of how things used to be, and how they are now. I also think of the possibilities of how I could have turned out to be if I spent over a dozen years in Georgia, instead of New York. But then again, that's just me. Just my 2 cents, sorry.

Well, okay. You have a damn good point about "feeling good" while being green and all, but I was referring to that in a more general sense. What I meant is that, generally, when people go green, and keep it stable, they save money! Of course, no one on earth "likes" being disconnected even for a minute against their will, especially in cities like Sydney. But hey, I guess we will eventually reach a time where people will consider it a "norm" to be conservative or "green" with the things we do on a daily basis. And yes, I also do agree that discomfort would have to be confronted by many, but humans are known to adapt. :)

Well, okay. I didn't read that document in its entirety, but it concluded that it was difficult to measure the real effect of Earth Hour in New South Wales. It also said that the use of electricity compared to times throughout the day itself wasn't significant, but I didn't catch anything in that PDF that mentioned the fact that there are more lights being used at night when the sun sets, as compared the rest of the day when there is daylight.

Although, it is indeed interesting that at 7:30 the use of electricity went really high, but that might have been coincidental for that day. Still, all scientific notes aside, you can't disregard the fact that something like this was pulled off in the first place, and whatever electricity was saved, even if it was so small.

Shadowsun7, I definitely agree that they should be applauded because this just goes to show that there are people who are genuinely interested in the bettering of our environment. I believe that this is just the beginning of more and more countries taking part in something extraordinary, as it is an effort to spread knowledge of the benefits of being green, saving energy, and feeling good while doing it.

Honestly, what's the point of reading an article that negates the idea of even having an EarthHour? Regardless the scientific results, it can and WILL eventually reach a state where shutting off lights for one hour will actually make a big difference.

Wow, not a single comment. I guess people here don't care. :-/