Earth: The Power of the Planet

Just finished watching a great series about Earth.

It explored how the Earth was created, and all the special conditions that were needed in order for our planet to support life. You can read about it here. Highly recommended and very interesting!

It explored the idea that no matter what has happened to Earth in its long history, it has always managed to recover, and each time it has recovered, a new chapter in evolution has been created. The idea is that the major catastrophies that have happened throughout Earth's history have been the main drivers for evolution.

Anyway, the presenter (scientist Iain Stewart) wrapped up by saying that it's not our planet that needs saving - it's the human race. The Earth will always recover from everything that is thrown at it, man-made or otherwise. It is plainly obviously that the human race will one day become extinct, but the Earth will carry on, and something else will evolve to take our place.

This just re-inforces my previous post - F*ck the Planet! :)

F*ck the Planet

I don't get it.

Governments and organisations all over the world are encouraging all of us to use less energy, take less flights, drive less, etc, etc, in order to save the planet. And every day we're encouraged to turn off lights, unplug things when they're not in use - basically to save every little bit of energy possible.

I'm all for "helping our planet". If I can take a train somewhere instead of flying, I do. I turn things off when I'm not using them. I recycle as much as possible. I cycle wherever I can. I'm doing "my bit".

The thing that pisses me off about all this is that whilst we're all made to feel guilty about leaving a light on accidentally, it's perfectly alright for all these advertising companies to install thousands upon thousands of thousands of energy-hungry advertising screens absolutely everywhere there is space to put them. For instance, on the London Underground at the moment, standard advertising boards that line the escalator walls are being replaced with LCD screens. Some escalators are quite long, and there is literally a screen every couple of feet all the way along. Sometimes this equates to about 30 screens on each side. Now, not only are these screens using energy, they're also releasing heat - one of the biggest problems on the Underground, and one which they're spending millions on trying to resolve.

I'm watching the Premier League football at the moment, and all the advertising boards that surround the pitches are now live animated screens, using even more energy. Right now, on my computer, advertisements written in Flash are chewing up CPU power, not only slowing down my computer, but also causing it to use more energy.

My point is, we're all making an effort to do something to help, yet these advertising companies are allowed to go ahead and use as much energy as they like. Why? I mean, I know why - money. If we were really serious about saving energy, we wouldn't be letting these companies produce advertisements in this manner. Is it REALLY necessary to have animated adverts EVERYWHERE??? It just doesn't make any sense to me whatsoever.

So, until something is done about this blatant waste of energy, why the hell are we bothering to "do our bit"? I'll "only boil as much water as I need" when they remove all those advertising screens from the Underground. I'll "offset my carbon" the next time I fly when they ban these animated advertisements boards from football pitches.

Until then, F*ck the Planet!

Moo

Things are a little better at my new job - not so bored now. More angry than anything, but in this line of work that's to be expected. Either way, I'm eating more curry, that's one thing for sure.

About to buy tickets to the Boxing Day Test Match at the MCG this year... Yay!

More to follow. Maybe... Sometime...

Moo.