Every Light I Own Will Be On Tonight

[kribbz]

Well you know since Mr. Gore invented the internet he ought to be the one that is put at the front of the line as far as global warming goes!  I mean think about how many businesses, govt agencies, homes ect. that now have a computer that would have never had one otherwise?  If he would have just kept that entire "Internet" idea to himself we could have had alot less wasted energy on forums like this! 

[fr0sty]

I support less lights at night for one reason.  Light pollution.  We really miss out on the quiet beauty of the night sky because of light.  

I went to the planetarium at our local university a year or so back.   It's state of the art.  After the 30 minute or some presentation, they simulated the effect of our local light pollution on our ability to fully see the night sky.

I would think that people who are so in tune to nature as hunters would have a least some appreciation for other aspects of the natural world.

[dewey]

Frosty I agree with you on the light pollution and I would think that the hunters here would be more concerned about conservation than wasting of resources just because of our hunting beliefs.  I would not leave lights on just to leave them on.  Here is my reasoning for that; the more lights I leave on the higher my light bill would be and therefore I would have less money for hunting.  Also no matter how you feel about global climate change or whatever they call it now that we could all do our part to conserve resources and not just waste them out of spite.

[MSHunter]

Frosty and Dewey,
I understand your points of view and I agree. Turning off lights to lower your electric bill and save some money or to facilitate viewing the night sky are fine. The point of last Saturday's lights out event was to raise awareness of man made global warming. Now, this is my opinion and I don't want to start a political discussion here, but I do not believe in man made global warming. I believe that any warming the earth may undergo has a lot more to do with the huge yellow/orange thermonuclear reactor called the sun than with mankind. The organizers of the event where trying to make their point, I turned my lights on to make my point.

[Woods Walker]

ORIGINAL: MSHunter

Frosty and Dewey,
I understand your points of view and I agree. Turning off lights to lower your electric bill and save some money or to facilitate viewing the night sky are fine. The point of last Saturday's lights out event was to raise awareness of man made global warming. Now, this is my opinion and I don't want to start a political discussion here, but I do not believe in man made global warming. I believe that any warming the earth may undergo has a lot more to do with the huge yellow/orange thermonuclear reactor called the sun than with mankind. The organizers of the event where trying to make their point, I turned my lights on to make my point.

 
Well put! I was going to respond, but you said it about as well as it could be said.

[fr0sty]

When it comes to global warming, just forget about the cause for a minute.   A thought experiment if you will. 

It is clear that the earth has gone through many episodes of dramatic climate change in it's history.  From ice ages to periods of being much warmer than it is today.

Lets just assume that any climate change we may be seeing now is not the result of any human activity.  The question I ask is how do we best survive as a species when those changes occur?   In some ways, it's arrogance to assume we know enough about how the earth's climate operates to somehow stop it and keep the globe at today's temperature.  And even if we could, should we? 

That the earth's climate will change is a near certainty.  What is causing it now, I don't know.  Trying to stop the earth from doing what it's going to do is a difficult and uncertain endeavor.  Managing climate change also has relevance to conservation of our natural resources. 

Many people mourn the extinction of species.  Yea, it seems bad, but it is also the inevitable fate of every species.  Just look at the fossil record. I have read that over 99% of species that have ever lived are now extinct.  Seems futile that we should try and keep species alive.  Yet we do, and I believe we should preserve them.  Not because of their intrinsic value, but for our own selfish need to survive.

Humans as a species are excellent at adapting.  I am sure whatever the planet does, some of us will survive.  How much we fight among each other should there be severe global shortages of water and food resources remains to be seen. 

What should we do in when the climate changes?

[Woods Walker]

Just what we have been doing, because the climate has already changed, just like it's been doing for the past 4,500,000,000 years, give or take a millenia.....adapt. It's what we do best, and why we have evolved with the largest and most complex brains a species has ever had. We're problem solvers, always have been.
 
When there was a warming trend in the middle ages, Vikings developed a dairy/farming culture in Greenland which thrived for about 40 or 50 years, I believe, before it turned cold again, so they left. Adaptation.