It seems that this day is mostly just an attempt at making normally greedy and wasteful people feel better about themselves. It's not as if a single day of half-hearted frugality will save the planet. a href="http:" / frases /a

It strikes me how every time Sylvie writes an article, we get a whole bunch of dumb comments referring to PMS, wanting pictures of Sylvie, loving Sylvie, ...etc. You can be sexy and classy, but these are really crass. Guess many can't tolerate the idea of a half good looking girl who knows a thing or two about computers. You never see this while reading non-computer magazines. Sad...

...anyway you slice it

if you're in the media

you are the hypocrisy...

NOW on the topic of our brief existence on this planet, well..it's not worth the bother as we won't be around long enough to matter to the universe anyway...

HA

late read but it was worth it - bravo! "Global Warming- scaring stupid people since 1995..."

I think it is one of those 'world' days that is only mentioned in North America. Not mentioned once this side of the pond and I had to click the redesigned Google logo to find out what it was.....

They should call the carbonphobes day

Excellent commentary, Regulas-- the whole point of all this Earth Day rubbish SHOULD be that it is all based on a lie that humans are the singular cause of global warming-- not to mention all of the political and government types using that lie to shamelessly promote their agendas--

The title should read
The hypocrisy of this Article exposed.

Maybe if everybody shut up for 5 minutes global warming would stop. Maybe not.

..the first decent article that your crappy outfit has written in the past 2 years. I keep thinking I am getting bored of the mind numbing BS on this site (since it has turned so boring in recent years) but then every now and again an ariticle like this perks things up.

If you live in a western, industrialized country, as most of us here probably do, (these) governments insist on sustained immigration for a variety of reasons, from broadening the tax base (to pay for pensions, health care, etc., which is otherwise unsustainable) to filling holes in the job market (a grand canard if ever there was one, but politicians love that particular rationalization). Which means that, for instance, here in Canada, metropolitan areas which were relatively thinly populated and wholly pleasant only a generation ago are now seething masses of humanity, with the accompanying increase in civil problems that comes with packing people together like rats in a cage. And still - *still!* - we're told every day that there's not only room for tens of millions more, but that they're necessary. I don't begrudge people wanting to find a better life away from their indigenous environs, but, seriously, we ran out of space about twenty years ago. Now spin this a hundred different ways ecologically, which is simple enough, and we remain on topic.

End rant... now.

Tis' a day of grand superficial artifice.

I acknowledge the complete and utter futility of this, but -- for the rest of you -- consider having a look at this here:

http://www.storyofstuff.com/

"a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world."

download the short documentary here:

http://web.1.c3.audiovideoweb.com/1c3web3536/StoryOfStuff.mov

or just watch it on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLBE5QAYXp8

Also, a full-length documentary titled, "Manufactured Landscapes"; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLBE5QAYXp8

...why is it anyone who suggests overpopulation is a problem, gets shot down with "let's start with you!" type of vitriol?

That's *not* what's being advocated here - simply a reduction in the number of bloody children we insist on having!

1 kid (2 at a max) per family. Flat-rate, worldwide...I'm looking at you India...and bingo - global warming solved in 20 yrs.

The economies and pensions might take a hit mind you...

"... since India and China are not filled with Caucasions..."

Err, India IS filled with Caucasians. Ethnic Indians are Caucasian. (Entered to remind everyone how ridiculous racial politics are.)

A couple of times a week I'll notice my computer's fan has started spinning at top speed and it's pumping out a ton of heat. I'll look at the process list and see my browser is running the CPU at 50% (one of the two cores flat out) - I don't actually look anymore because it's always the browser. I'll click through all the browser tabs till I find the one with a flash applet which takes a few seconds to show up. I'll then close that tab, closing the offending flash applet and my CPU use and fan speed goes down again.

How much power could we save globally if we all just un-installed flash?

SUV drivers are morons who boost their self-esteem and ego by having a big car. I don't blame them, they have to compensate somehow for their small penises.

Great article Sylvie, I enjoyed reading it.

You can bet she is on PMS!!! I understand you, I'm a monthly victim (not the bearer) of it.

Is this the right place to come for auto troubles? My catalytic converter just shot itself and I've been getting close to 15MPG lately. It's an '02. Can anybody help?

EARTH DAY and GLOBAL WARMING are the magic happy angel and boogey-man we use to try to scare people into doing what is just common sense. Don't throw litter on the ground. Not because it'll cause an ulcer in the planet's protective layers.. but because you are just a big D-bag for littering. Put it in a trash bin you lazy a-hole. Don't leave the lights on.. not for some happy-crappy save the earth reason.. just do it so you have a smaller power bill. Thankfully a huge comet will some day smash into the planet and make all this silly twaddle moot.

Job

Don't listen to the jerks, Sylvie, you know where the bear sits and it's as far away from the human race as it can get (when not living off of our dumps and getting shot for it). I don't go out of my way to Be Green, but my (mostly) intentionally humble lifestyle means a fraction of the footprint left by even the average eco-freak, so yay, me.

Lewis Black summed things up rather well on his Daily Show segment, citing that Earth never really gets what it wants on it's day: for all of us to f**king die!

I think we short minded city dwellers need things like this to keep us on track. I think that the more it is brought to our attention the more we move toward doing the right thing. I see the future and we are one race and self aware.

I do agree with the idea of being "green" but not for the reason these so called scientists say.

Global warming/climate change... whatever the climate changes all the time and has been far worse in the past, and the future cannot be predicted.

However I do agree with people not being wasteful if they can help it. Recycling is a good idea, more efficnet engines are a good idea, insulating your house is a good idea. Growing trees and promoting wildlife is a good idea. Energy efficnet lightbulbs are a good idea (as long as you dont break them), hopefully LEDs will get better ^^. It dosn't really cost you much to do any of all of those things.

But to make people feel guilty over political issues thats just wrong.

Don't knock them. One of my favourite bands.

But may I ad, do a favor for the planet and every creature living on it, by going vegan.

(And no, I am not a hippy. I dislike hippies quite a bunch. Cheers!)

Take a look at Greece and see what happened with the forests there thousands of years ago. Then go to Canada and find out how entire mountains are being deforested today to run the bubble economy in wasteland, leaving only dead rocks. See yourself where the wood goes.

And while we keep wasting valuable resources in excess, we also claim the right to tell the developing nations that they do not have that privilege. Pathetic.

I had a hormone-filled burger today.. I'm growing a third ear as I speak!!!

What's the matter bro, don't like facts huh, go hug a tree and make yourself feel better.

BernardP - Right on the money!

Rich Wargo - Seems to me you are the one "thinking somebody else should do something about it." I say we start in your neighborhood!

Want to actually know what you're talking about? Check it:

http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/publication/17661/global_climate_disruption.html

What a clueless posting. Try doing some research next time. Focus on terms like timescales, that should put you straight. To give you a starting point, consider how long the CO2 takes to recycle in the natural ways you mention compared with how long it stays in the atmosphere - that should give you enough of a clue to get started. It's the source of the CO2 and how long it has been out of the atmosphere that matters.

I had never heard of Earthday It passed without my knowing until I read this article on Thursday morning here in Australia. Is it a US thing? Sounds more like a something the EU would come up with.
BTW,the Author of this article needs get a life.

When the oil runs out, soon, then won't that solve all these problems?

And The Earth will still be here, it's just that some of the species may not.

BernardP, if you think overpopulation is the root cause, then I suggest you stop contributing to the problem. What's that? You're too important? Like hell you are.

Funny how all the drooling goober libtards who whine about overpopulation are always thinking somebody else should do something about it. Why not be a MAN and start?

Even if you dont give a rats about climate and flooding oil is peaking.

If you thought subprimes were stinky, take a gas mask if you are going anywhere near a crystal ball.

If subprimes can be likened to a ticking stink bomb which finally went off just as we knew it would, peak oil is a jackass with a crate of explosives and a box of matches sitting in a Bolivian guano cave. It is not so much if as when.

IT industry pros are used to a rate of change that no other industry on the planet can match. That is the kind of rate of change we need to switch from oil to renewables without getting our valuables caught in the zipper.

The one thing you can't recycle is talent.

Most people who drive SUVs don't care about earth day. It's apathy, not hypocracy.

Earth day is 'celebrated' by latter day hippies and high school/college kids.

-They buy weed grown in some south american country, grown on land from a clear-cut rain forest, and then tell everyone else to go green. That's hypocracy.

-They run TV ads for earth day? You know how much energy(= polution) comes from running the idiot box and making shows for it? That's hypocracy.

-They publish articles on the 'net (same energy use argument as for TV) and then cry about other people driving SUVs. That's hypocracy.

... overpopulation. There are already too many people on Earth/in your country/in your city. Continuing population increase puts more and more stress on the environment.

The human is an animal that succeeds too well in its environment. At some point, something will happen so that the system regains its natural equilibrium. It can do nothing else.

Sylvie, you should have put the last one pic from the Earth taken from Voyager 2 (or was it a Pioneer (?) ) as it crossed the Kuiper belt. Some people who flamed you might have thought twice. 4 pixels above the noise. If we keep taking this issue as a marketing thing, the 4 pixels will turn to shot noise. As we know, nature won't care for 1 sec. That's why we should. You spotted the problem exactly. Taking this as marketing dilutes so much our responsibility. As for the ones who accuse you of being leftist - and calling themselves educated tech people, they make me sad.

Yeah, Earth Day. yadda yadda yadda. I've heard for years about the impending DOOM of global warming. What I don't understand is when it effects us, will the world be like living in the the Mad Max or Water World movies? Wish someone could advise me if I will need a wicked azz car and oil or a boat and soil to be prepare for when it happens.
Thanks hippies in advance.

Point well made, but context quite distorted. I live in the wealthiest county of the United States and I must say the people which you describe, although present, are a small minority, while this seems to suggest that nearly everybody acts this way.

If you turn off hot water, your tooth brush won't clean as much mucus off it, that little Slyv. Heres another idea. In desert where All resources are scarce, make bentonite bottom pond on Rio Verde ( thats where i live in Fort Mcdowell) then every so often scrap mucus scum off bottom & start growing soil ilium in nearby cool wet Sand. Just think how long that'l take, I'm Reasigning You ALL,To That Task, Right Now. drashek

Wow you would be dangerous if you actually had a brain.
No wonder you are for the green movement.

Suburban's are made by GM.

Way to use google.Genius. lol

btw update on this all three cars
"two trucks and a caddy btw:)" running outside, plus all the lights on and two t.v.s 2 computers at 1200 watts a crack and two laptops.

Yeah baby!

That should... stove. Forgot the stove.

brb.

Thats better. Anyways

That should negate roughly a 100 vegetables.

How's that for souless hmm?

Now that im in full swing here, i should see how much power this old house can handle in one crack.
The kids are gonna love this.

Thanks for the inspiration dere dougie.
Feel free to keep right on talking. :) :)

Actually Hypocrisy would be to say you support Earth Day, and then don't do any advertising. Bringing awareness of the "Earth's" health is a good thing. Even if it's only a reminder on a major website, it might help a few thousand people remember to alter their thermostat and buy some insulation for their garage door etc.
Also, you didn't expose anything. It looks like you didn't do any research or anything for this "article." All you did was spout off some randomly made up stuff.

I'm a rightie conservative that thinks that global warming is a stupid theory, next to the one that states the world is 5,000 years old. That said, one should try to live clean, just nicer that way. Don't p in your drinking water and all that.

Why not make a concerted effort to fly less {{DONE}}
drive less{{DONE}}
build a compost heap {{In Prog}}
recycle {{DONE}}
carpool{{BUS}}
insulate {{In Prog}}
change your light bulbs {{Too what, LED?}}
switch off your computers at night{{DONE}}

This is a stupid holiday, so I have to agree with Sylvie on that.

More and more caucasian yuppies are embracing this green thing. We buy our veggies at expensive farmers markets, pack our food into cloth bags at trader joes, and omg we love bikes. I haven't even driven my SUV for 2 months. Whether the purpose is to save the planet or brag at dinner parties/get more yuppie ass, it still helps the planet.

You just lost your spot in my RSS feeds! I don't read Inq for this kind of self-indulgent crap. I certainly won't bother with it in the future.

You forgot the biggest inconvenient truth Al Gore... is he not jetting around in his private planes while he 'offsets' this by planting trees?

Think of the good he would be doing if he DIDN'T use his private jets AND still planted trees... Can a thief 'offset' his actions by giving to charity?

Seriously though this is becoming one of the biggest scams to make people feel good about themselves and just another type of conditioning for politicians to push through an agenda without vigorous and honest debate.

More on the topic -
http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/02/14/66-recycling/

Well Fred and James, which corporation have you sold your souls to? It must be American and it must use lots of energy.

But that's fine, you're corporate days are probably numbered anyway since you sound so much like Chrysler employees.

<end

You can save the planet, if only you can get all the other middle-class white girls with daddy issues to work themselves into more of a snit!

I don't have a lot of interest in buying a Hummer (don't care for their handling, nuisance to park them, etc.), but every time I read someone like you pouring out your contempt for people you don't even know, I get that much closer to changing my mind.

Yes, Sylvie Yes! Your logic is flawless, and Bob, the first commenter on this article: I think you need to gain some perspective.

We are supposed to believe the world is going to end in 10 years, how many decades have they been saying that?

Also who cares what gas guzzling SUV people drive, it elsewhere were pollution is rampant, i.e. commercial vehicles like construction. I remember reading how boats pollute did the US ever add restrictions on them? Making restrictions on cars is great but why should other sectors be exempt?

I guess I must be apart of the 1% club of working for a company where all the executives with the exception of one drive a Toyoto Prius. The other executive uses public transportation at a cost of 50 cents to travel 17 miles a day. I think your anger is misdirected, not all multi-million dollar companies are how you described them. For example, whenever a small bulldozer is used for an hour the amount of C02 emissions is 1/4 of the pollution your car uses a year. The INQ can reduce their Carbonfoot print by posting less trash on the internet.
(By trash I'm not referring to you, I'm referring to Charlies articles)

1. The "natural" environment emits more than 500 billion tons of CO2 per year. Humans contribute 30 billion tons. Termites alone contribute twice that. If human industry ceased, and if the termite population increased 50 percent, would the quacks at EPA sit up nights worrying about the icecaps melting? It seems doubtful, but because the alleged remedies for the Gorian Apocalypse dovetail so neatly with a Leftist agenda, people who know better stand silent, lest they lose grants or tenure. Most people are sheep, with the rest being divided pretty evenly between sheepdogs and wolves. Scientists used to be among the sheepdogs. They aren't any more. It's a great pity.

I have a nice big honking suburban i can give you a ride anywhere you wanna go. :)

Which reminds me, i need to fire that thing up and let it idle all day.

Good thing i happen to be making bean soup today, yummy.

My bumper sticker says the following.

Save a Bikini, Promote Global Warming.

I do believe I've gotten your dander up!
Please don't look at me... I have old-fashioned values about repression and GMC Sierra Denali pick-up trucks!

Is it hot in here, or is it just me?

Happy Cinco de Yom Hazmat, everyone!

I celebrate Earth day. It is the day that I remember hypocrisy, the day I remember how big pharmaceutical make money off the stupidity of others. You know, the day you remember that you need to "detox". Earth day reminds me of all the corporate lies we are told year on year. How the poles are melting, how thermonuclear war is immanent etc etc.

Remember, this is about the environment...power companies need you to be "green", they can sell you "green electricity" for more. You can choose to donate money to "help the environment" and tick the little airline company's e-box to "offset carbon emissions".

Maybe they should start focusing on methane emissions first, it's a far worst problem than carbon.

Remember, you need to eat low fat foods, or you will be fat. You need organic apples because the non-organic have killed people for centuries. Buy green fuel, because it's a nicer color. Meat is murder, it is unnatural for people to eat it. Everything you see in commercials is true, it's all about your best interest.

What does "green" sell? just ask yourself. Do we really need green, freshly frozen organic chicken?
If you buy our chicken, which uses organic chemicals, which are basically chemicals like any other chemical, you can offset your carbon emissions, which is very green.

38 out of 42 people that read my comment found it useful. (This was proven in non-peer reviewed clinical trials run by a doctor that received a Phd from an unaccredited university in an unrelated field. The doctor's Phd is unavailable to the public.)

Wow, someone needs to seriously get laid. Instead of some mindless rant with a passive aggressive tinge and a dash of jealousy, maybe the writer should just take a 'stress' day.
Where is the Management on this, and what the hell does this have to do with the standard coverage we expect from L'Inq?
Unfortunately for the Author, and fortunately for us, not all of those technically inclined are half-wits who have been spoon-fed some Lefty anti-Capitalist propoganda. Hell, most of the Commie hard-science scientists dispute all the Global Warming bull.

Please take your passionate, emotive politiclally correct beliefs and somewhere else. This isn't the place for it.
And especially not the Causcasion slam, since India and China are not filled with Caucasions, and have already surpassed the US in actual gross output, and will do so on a per capita basis in several years. So maybe you should start writing in Mandarin, as I think 1.3B Chinese will end up polluting a heck of a lot more.

http://www.newser.com/story/3282/chinas-co2-output-passes-us.html

Of course, all of this begs the REAL question. If you wanted to get all high and mighty, you should have take the high road, which does admittedly require some backbone, and pointed out the glaring failure of the Kyoto Protocal, which I feel quite sure that you believed in, supported and espoused.

Total, total FAILURE.
By over 160 Countries, and many don't even have SUV's, whodathunk'it?

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/climatewatch/article.html?in_article_id=72827&in_page_id=59

I think its clear who the Hypocrite is.

I have one gadget - a computer! It does everything all the other gadgets do but doesnt cost a fortune or tie me in to a contract. And its not pointlessly portable - I'd only need something portable if I had to travel around a lot in my SUV cos my personal organiser was really just an office toy and like most computerisation these days not used properly.
I'd tell you more but you'd probably feel the need to convert it into a PDF and then drive to the printer to read it...

... is so nice. Go Sylvie go! We love u :)

Um...you may not drive SUVs I bet INQ hacks spend a considerable amount of time flying around the world all in the name of cynical and unproductive articles.

Go you!

But you're so NICE when writing up IT news! Thank heavens there's no hypocrisy there, then.

Wow, someone needs to give Sylvie a hug and tell her everything is going to be OK.

She's right. It seems that this day is mostly just an attempt at making normally greedy and wasteful people feel better about themselves. It's not as if a single day of half-hearted frugality will save the planet.

Even so, I don't blame the SUV drivers either. Consumers have been taught by corporations over many decades to have certain expectations when it comes to performance of vehicles, and the availability of goods and services. Most people being sheep, and with our society treating radicals and free-thinkers as outcasts, tend to swallow whatever is thrown at them.

Ultimately it is the most influential corporations who can make the biggest difference, by paying for more research into greener forms of power generation and manufacturing. Compared to their influence, turning off a light bulb for a couple of extra hours a day is still a drop in the ocean.

It's algae that absorb most of the C02. It's well known that most everything else emits more C02, and actually uses oxygen.

Something they don't teach in 'middle school' science, because it might just become all too confusing and make our wee little heads explode.

How, you say? I'm driving my big red 2003 Chevy Suburban so I can put out more CO2 so I can feed the trees more & make them greener! If you don't have a big SUV-type vehicle, do any of the following:

1)drink more sodas/beer (anything carbonated)
2)exercize/make love so you breath heavy
3)use more electricity so coal-fired power plants have to work harder

etc., etc.
Your welcome!

Plants *love* CO2
CO2 makes plants grow more
CO2 is the *true* green gas
(basic middle school science...if you don't remember)

Why is it I never hear about those power sucking computers. I rarely hear any talk about the most common gadgets we use every day. Buy a cheapo watt meter and see how many watts that over priced video card that can play game 100 times faster that it needs to or the quad cpu sucking more watts for nothing. Most people could do fine with a little netbook and sacrifice a little screen size.

Anybody got any snaps of Ms. Sylvie? I mean, besides whatever is available on the Inq? Post 'em if you've got 'em!

"This whole article seems to be a slam on caucasian people who drive SUVs."

It was only mentioned once, probably to highlight a cross section of people who would take Earth day seriously. How you can say that the whole article was written to slam SUV driving caucasians i don't know.
Perhaps you should get some perspective yourself?

Pretty fine points.

Many don't even acknowledge the one day greening.

It's still a useful exercise as long as it introduces people to the idea of environmental responsibility.

However, when all our communications media rely on the advertisement of wasteful and unnecessary products, green living will not be promoted as a normal lifestyle.

Go Sylvie !

This whole article seems to be a slam on caucasian people who drive SUVs. It sounds more like jealousy than real concern over earth day.

I don't owe/drive an SUV nor have I ever. I've traveled to Europe and seen the efforts to be "green" and I support them. I highly doubt the world is coming to an end because some people drive SUVs nor that the world will be saved by those who tele-commute.

Perhaps you need to gain some perspective?

Nicely done, Sylvie, and of course, the biggest (and I do mean that literally) hypocrite of all the tree-hugging enviro-Nazis is that miserable excuse for protoplasm, Al (I invented the Internet) Gore. His carbon footprint is larger than that of most industrialized countries. And he emits more hot air than 20 coal burning power plants.

You are right in pointing out the hypocracy of it all.