It's a shame that most could not make an effort
We received a letter last night from a reader, during Earth Hour. He was very disappointed in the lack of participation for Earth Hour. While many of you feel it is a wasted effort, it is still something that was planned and should have happened. You may not believe in Halloween or St. Patrick's Day either, but they happen anyway, so this is not about whether you think Earth Hour is stupid or not, this is about apathy in the Grove by local businesses.
Many did participate like Greenstreet and Havana Grove and the Bookstore and the Windisch-Hunt Gallery, they went out of their way to buy candles and bags to put them in and to present movies and have specials and more. Above is Alissia at the gallery, enjoying a work of art by Eric Speyer. People actually enjoyed the art by candlelight. They sought it out, knowing the gallery would do something special.
I know Liliana Dones and the Chamber worked tirelessly to get this to happen. Apparently most of the local businesses don't have much respect for the Chamber or Earth Hour. Here is the letter sent in last night:
I am sitting in the Grove for Earth Hour as I write this, and it is disheartening to see the lack of effort made by the local businesses and city. Cocowalk is bright as day, Johnny Rockets is neon city, the trees are sparkling along the streets (normally I love this by the way, just not at this moment!!).
The signs for Chili's, Starbucks, The Gap, etc. are all high voltage as usual. I know they can't go dark in general and of course the kitchens need to be functional on a Saturday night, but at least show some environmental effort by shutting off the signs for an hour and light a few candles inside.
Greenstreet as usual is one of the few making a decent showing. Hell, even the city's sign advertising the "switch off" is lit up! If the Vegas Strip, Eiffel Tower, Golden Gate Bridge, can go dark for one stinkin' hour, the Grove could have at least made an effort to make a small statement. Disappointing....
Here are some friends in the South Grove who got it. That's Francesca Terry at left with friends who met in a park, shaded the lamp post and enjoyed the stars.
Photos by AnnaMaria Windisch-Hunt
posted by Tom Falco at 12:30 PM
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17 Comments:
If the Grove Merchants can't get together on this rather simple uncomplicated effort they deserve to go out of business, one by one until the non-thinkers, self abosorbed are gone.
You whiners also haven't considered the fact that franchises are subject to contractual guidelines for how they run their businesses. They may not have been permitted by their franchise agreements - or by their insurers(!) - to turn off their lights. These kinds of decisions are probably made by the legal departments at corporate HQ, not by the local franchisee.
As usual, though, liberals have no clue about how businesses actually function.
And yet all the other Chili's, Starbucks and Gaps around the country participated. Go figure.
If that's true, then it was the local franchisee's or management's choice. It's called "freedom."
Funny that liberals whine about conservatives wanting to impose their own sense of morality on others, whereas we live in a world where liberals impose their morality on the rest of us, every day, and constantly gripe that they can't impose more of it.
Interesting that my prior comment wasn't posted.
SWLIP, I love how you never have the facts yet you always shoot your mouth off with half the facts. I think you do it for attention.
This event was planned for months. All had pledged to participate. Then they wimped out, mostly out of apathy. Not because of anything corporate.
They were not forced into it, they agreed to be part of it. Then all of a sudden the last day the movies were not to be shown, this was not to happen, that was not to happen.
Maybe if you showed up for a meeting or two and stopped whining all the time out of ignorance, you would have a clue. You never do have a clue and yet you are the first to shoot your mouth off which only proves your ignorance.
It is best to be thought a fool and keep ones mouth shut than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt.
Grape, I really enjoy your blog, in most respects, but the constant hectoring about what other people should do with their own money and businesses gets tiresome. It's not about whether these businesses had notice; it's about the constant griping that not enough people adhere to the party line. It's not only tiresome; it's hypocritical; kind of like Lili Dones hectoring everybody to submit to draconian tree regulations, while she lives in a condo and never has to lift a finger to worry about trees of her own (yes, this is a fact that she admitted in a neighborhood association meeting).
Turning out the lights for one hour because you think that we're all going to suffer from global warming is stupid, preening, moral narcissism, plain and simple. And if people don't want to participate in a pointlessly symbolic gesture, that's their business. Get over it.
Oh, and yes, I shoot my mouth off. But I've never done so anonymously.
of course swilp has to degrade people and call them liberals, what a tool!
Grape, swilp never have the facts.... but No One in his party does!
Swilp
"Turning out the lights for one hour because you think that we're all going to suffer from global warming is stupid, preening, moral narcissism, plain and simple". That is your quote Swilp
Yet, I had people in my gallery specifically because I supported Earth Hour. I've never seen them before and with them were their children who are very conscious of what it takes to preserve our world and future. From them I learned that Google has a different way of looking so it does not take up so much power it's called Blackle France, ...Italia ...Espania and for your I'm sure it's available in English. I recommend you see the "Inconvenient Truth" to bad you missed it last night at the Bookstore. I have been called a Tree Hugger .
Earth Hour was a silly effort. Meaningless. Just a media event and a photo opp.
Let's get away from the pretentious, "banner-promoted" events supported by those who don't really matter -- like chambers of commerce and "village councils." Just do something on an individual level. Nothing good comes from the Chamber or the council. Worthless.
Walk to Fresh Market. Turn off your water heater when you leave town for a week. Don't use your air conditioner. Make it personal -- not an effing media event.
This effort to be blantantly Green is no different than those trying to be blantantly Christian. Pretentious and posturing. Ultimately, those promoting and propagating "Earth Hour" may be as false and misguided as your average fundamentalist Christian. Misguided. Deluded. Prententious.
AnnaMaria - You can put it in Czech, or all I care (yes, I can read in more than one language). I bow to none in my pro-conservation bona fides (learned how to survive in the Florida swamps as a kid, got my PADI certification at age 13, hate powerboats, and send my daughter to a wildlife conservation camp in Ocala every summer). I just despise empty posturing, and happen to believe that the theory of anthropogenic global warming will be remembered by history as one of the biggest scams of this era.
I also still believe in freedom of choice and that thing called "liberty," which many seem to consider to be a rather icky notion, these days.
Btw, much of our electricity comes from CO2 emissions-free nuclear power. And the Turkey Point reactor has also helped bring back the crocodile population.
So, if you believe in CO2-caused global warming and you like saving endangered species, nuclear power is a double-plus. If want to do something meaningful, write your congressional representative in support of nuclear energy.
One more thing: http://politics.nashvillepost.com/2009/03/29/al-gore-will-leave-the-lights-on-for-ya/
Hahahaha!
Hey Swlip. Time to go get yourself a real job. Sounds like you have way to much time on your hands. Also please make sure all your facts are correct, before you post them for all to see.
Boy that SWLIP sure is one thin-skinned Everyready Bunny. Take a shot at him and he just goes on and on. Must not be that many billable hours down at the office these days.
Swlip,
While I hear and even agree with tiny pieces of what you're saying (liberty in general, economic realities, and earth hour being silly), you are clearly too wrapped up and saturated in your one world view (compliments of fox by the sounds of it, with a little too great a helping of Glen "I cry on cue" Beck, but there is one simple, undeniable truth that you fail to realize: advocacy is more effective when it isn't intentionally polarizing.
Also, a modicum of modesty wouldn't help. It makes brilliant minds like yours easier for idiots like the rest of us to understand.
Thanks for the friendly advice. I rarely watch tv news, though, and wouldn't recognize Glenn Beck if I saw him on the street. One doesn't need inspiration to get aggravated by what passes for coventional wisdom in this community.
Hey Swlip. Does that stand for Strange Women Lying in Ponds?? Now it all makes sense.
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