"I solemnly pledge to uphold the right of the Koch brothers to pollute the shit out of our world in order to maximize profits and since I don't give a monkey's about future generations."
So, how did your hometown observe Earth Hour? ….
Pardon?
Earth Hour …. I said Earth Hour. Oh, you heard me.
When was it? Well, last night, of course ….
What?
No, not on TV, at least not here.
No, more of a worldwide event. Big global, join together, awareness kind of event.
No, no, nothing to do with Dick Clark or Jerry Lewis.
Oh, c’mon, EARTH HOUR …. the idea being that, for an hour last night, lights were voluntarily extinguished all over the globe to raise awareness of the planetary crisis known as climate change.
What?
Climate change …. c-l-i-m-a-t-e and c-h-a-n-g-e …. climate change ….
Used to be called “Global Warming”? ….
No – still not ringing a bell, eh?
Christ on a bike, never mind then. On you go back to “Call of Duty; Modern Warfare“. Fridge is over there.
JEESUSSS ….
To be fair, of the gentlemen pictured above, the first three have such a minuscule chance of ever getting even a shot at attempting to procreate that it’s understandable they couldn’t give a toss about the fate the generations to come.
As for gent number 4, he’s already done incalculable damage to our environment and passed into retirement which, strangely, seems to comprise of about the same level of daily activity as when he was last gainfully employed.
Well, employed anyway.
However it’s all true – yesterday, March 31, 2012 at 8.30 p.m., whenever that fell for you, Earth Hour began. It lasted …. well, I’ll leave it to you to work that one out.
Much of the planet was plunged into darkness at the appointed hour as folks everywhere flicked their switches off to raise awareness of the most menacing of threats – climate change; that inconvenient truth- you know, that sordid and shameful fact – which centers around the irreparable damage mankind is doing to this planet with his indifference, his filth and his grotesque grasping for profit.
A big, fat fact it is too – a “right-in-front-of-your-eyes” unarguable fact backed up by a mountain of scientific data of such empirical profundity you’d have to be either loathsome or lunatic to disregard it.
This, of course, is the type of fact that thoroughly riles Republicans. They like to call it other things.
Like “unfounded”, or “based on faulty science” (a subdivision of the “all science is faulty” school of imbecility), or “bullshit”, or “not God’s will and therefore non-existent”, or “Go fuck yourself, I’m lining my pockets with filthy lucre and you mean nothing to me, you grubby little man, so piss off”.
And they seem to think they have a point.
“Not so”, says the rest of mankind.
I can tell you that Earth Hour was observed all over the world, although Atlantic City decided it was going to have nothing to do with it because counting cash by candlelight is such a pain and nobody wanted to risk Donald Trump’s barnet going up like a parched creosote bonfire.
Earth Hour is no hippie fad – it is hundreds of millions of people, businesses and governments around the world uniting each year to support what has become the largest environmental event in history addressing the largest environmental disaster about to happen if we all don’t start thinking outside our own little boxes.
More than 5,200 cities and towns in 135 countries worldwide switched off their lights for Earth Hour 2011 alone, sending a powerful message for action on climate change. It also ushered in a new era with members going “Beyond the Hour” to commit to lasting action for the planet. It clearly illustrates how great things can be achieved when people come together for a common cause.
Read all about it here. It won’t kill – or even bankrupt – you.
Yes, the lights went out everywhere – all over the globe the harsh crackle and throb of neon, the pulse of electrical current, the hum of generated energy lost their ascendancy and played second fiddle to the night.
It happened in Paris ….
In Toronto:
Kuala Lumpar:
And Sydney:
The event crossed borders and boundaries and was embraced by all.
From the sacred:
Prambanan temple outside Yogyakarta city, Central Java (left); statue of Christ the Redeemer, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (right)
To the profane (well done there, Las Vegas!)
Earth Hour on the Las Vegas strip
Wow!
Wow indeed. The lights went out and we all survived! Fancy that!
It looked pretty impressive from space too.
Thanks to the International Space Station and her crew, who chose to participate in Earth Hour 2012, we can watch our planet engage in collective action, courtesy of this beautiful footage:
It truly was a global event:
Asia participated en masse:
From left - Singapore; Beijing; Hong Kong
As did the Sub-Continent:
New Dehli (top); and Islamabad
Russia and the old Soviet Republics:
The Ukraine Hotel, Moscow (left); The Belorussian National Library, Minsk, Belarus
Europe too – from bridges in Budapest to beautiful Barcelona:
From left - Barcelona's Sagrada Familia cathedral; Budapest's Chain Bridge
From symbols of ages past to the iconic futuristic constructions of today:
The Acropolis, Athens (left & center); The Eramus Bridge, Rotterdam (right)
Our neighbors to the south took part, as did their compatriots in South America:
Mexico City (left), and Buenos Aires Planetarium
While back in dear old Blighty, not even the usual dim bulbs were to be spotted in Parliament:
Houses of Parliament, London
So, c’mon America, share your stories of how your community came together to express their support for change to arrest climate change and secure our children’s future on a living planet ….
Whaddya mean, nobody told you?
Sadly this appears to be fact too – America barely participated in or promoted Earth Hour 2012.
Despite the fact that, clearly, the rest of the planet, regardless of race, color, political persuasion or creed, recognizes the imminent catastrophic implications of mankind-generated climate change (no drinking water, no food, barren wasteland, unlivable planet – that kind of thing), we here in the good old U.S. of A. choose to cock our snoots at the whole concept.
In fact, speaking of dim bulbs, there are those amongst us who believe they are qualified to lead this country in decade two of the 21st century who deny the very existence of climate change, thus potentially denying existence to future generations.
To whit:
1. Rick Santorum:
“The left is always looking for a way to control you. They’re always trying to make you feel guilty, so you’ll give them power so they can lord it over you. They do it on the environment all the time.”
“The dangers of carbon dioxide? Tell that to a plant, how dangerous carbon dioxide is.”
“[Climate change is] an absolute travesty of scientific research that was motivated by those who, in my opinion, saw this as an opportunity to create a panic and a crisis for government to be able to step in and even more greatly control your life.”
“We have to have all sorts of government regulations now because of the threats of hydrofracking. It’s the new bogeyman. It’s the new way to try to scare you … And they’re preying on the Northeast, saying, “Look what’s going to happen. Ooh, all this bad stuff’s gonna happen, we don’t know all these chemicals and all this stuff, what’s gonna happen?” Let me tell you what’s going to happen: Nothing’s going to happen, except they will use this to raise money for the radical environmental groups so they can go out and continue to try to purvey their reign of environmental terror on the United States of America.”
"Lordy lord!"
2. Mitt Romney:
“My view is that we don’t know what’s causing climate change on this planet. And the idea of spending trillions and trillions of dollars to try to reduce CO2 emissions is not the right course for us. My view with regards to energy policy is pretty straightforward. I want us to become energy secure and independent of the oil cartels. And that means let’s aggressively develop our oil, our gas, our coal, our nuclear power.”
But, credit where credit’s due – Romney can flip-flop on this more wildly than a flounder on a hot grill …. in June 2011, Romney said he believed “the world is getting warmer” and that “humans contribute to that.” But by October 2011, not a long time really, Romney was pronouncing that “we don’t know what’s causing climate change on this planet.”
What a flip little flop this guy is! - Mitt "Which Way Is Up" Romney
Are these gents palpably insane, simple-minded …. or simply running for office as a Republican?
While I’d be tempted to place an each-way bet on all of the above, the sad, sordid, deeply distasteful and really quite shocking truth is that these charmers will say anything – flat-out lies included – in furtherance of their disgraceful, dishonest and undemocratic platforms, nothing sort of a lunge for power by their shadowy financial backers, namely massive, multi-national corporate interests, whose sole interest is the maximization of profit for the benefit of one sub-class of species – their shareholders.
World be damned, nothing must stand in the way of profit. Pollution = profit; ergo, environment = expendable.
Ah, those wacky Republican candidates. These guys change fundamental beliefs as often as Romney (hopefully) changes his magic underwear.
Want proof – here’s Exhibit A; the loathsome Newt:
Newt in 2007:
Newt in 2011:
Newt in December 2011:
Yup, you heard right – Newt came up against an inconvenient truth of his own in his lust for power; a commissioned chapter from his forthcoming book, “Environmental Entrepreneurs“, was unceremoniously dumped as its message that climate change is real was causing ructions among the conservative right, Gingrich’s supposed power base, who were making angry noises about it, courtesy of The Creature From The Black Lagoon”, otherwise known as Rush.
"Don't tell me what I deny saying last month, record be damned. I deny it so that's a fact. And anyway I'm not here so I didn't deny it today when I deny denying it tomorrow. Clear?"
So Newt has travelled far – from sitting on a couch with Nancy Pelosi in support of an Al Gore environmental initiative to, well, having no clue whether or not climate change is real (Newt’s words, not mine).
It’s free enterprise v. the environment chez Newt’s these days. Guess who wins?
And who should police the environment?
According to Newt, as of last year, the Environmental Protection Agency should be abolished and replaced with an “Environmental Solutions Agency,” which he says would “work with industry instead of dictating to industry and incentivize the use of newer technologies instead of punishing current businesses.”
Yeah, that’ll work. The Koch brothers in charge of environmental regulation? Why not – think of it as a reward for all the millions they’ve spent on phony “scientific” think-tanks whose only mandate is to rubbish any notion that climate change is real.
(Read the whole story of the dumping of the chapter written by Katharine Hayhoe, an atmospheric scientist at Texas Tech University, here.)
Former Newt Gingrich collaborator Katharine Hayhoe speaking about climate change at Wayland Baptist University, Texas.
I don’t know about you, but I was brought up to believe liars were unworthy of respect and certainly unworthy of positions of trust, such as public office. So what am I missing, America? How can such hideous corruptions of moral integrity be viable candidates for the highest office in the land?!!
These people don’t work for you and have no intention of representing you in government. Their only motive is monetary, their goal for us is purgatory.
The rest of the world knows only too well, and believe with certainty, that climate change is real and poses an imminent threat to life itself on this planet. Many of these people have no newspapers, no television – they simply see it with their own eyes.
Where are you getting this absurd notion that climate change isn’t real?
Ah yes, I see, ’nuff said.
If I may gently break this news to you – Fox News is not news, it’s propaganda. If you don’t believe me, ask them! Fox is not ashamed of, nor do they deny, that their reportage carried a patent, wholly intentional right-wing slant.
It’s worth noting that, upon re-designing their logo some time ago, a decision was made to drop certain words that were most likely deemed irrelevant or confusing to their target audience.
Can you spot the subtle difference?
The Fox News logo - then (left), and now (right)
Other mooted changes were perhaps nixed as too descriptive:
Fox News is an insidious and malevolent presence, offering an alternative view of reality, disguised as reality, that has been appallingly successful in subverting malleable minds to believe what they report is, in fact, fact.
If your worldview is based upon the “news” as reported by Fox, I ask only that you take a week out from your channel of choice for a spot of comparison shopping. Check out your alternatives, from the main networks, to Free Speech TV, to Al-Jazeera (yes, you can watch it here, and you may be pleasantly surprised by the objective reportage to be found thereon), or even CNN.
Then make up your own mind about where truth resides.
(For more on Fox News and spin, and its effectiveness, go here.)
It really is time to change channels and face up to reality, especially in regard to such grave and pressing matters as climate change.
Think for yourselves and think of your children and their children’s children. Go to www.earthhour.org and start reading about what you missed.
And next year – PARTICIPATE!
