Monthly Archive for January, 2007

I received an email before Christmas calling for a national protest on climate change.

I agree that the response to climate change – although taking off – is to little too late, and that we all need to be pushing the Federal Government to take greater steps to protect our future. However the email suggested the following;

Here’s what you do:
From 6pm on December 24th, turn off your electricity and light some festive Christmas candles.

As the different states blackout according to their time-zones, the blackout will roll across Australia.

This is a simple protest and a symbolic action.
As citizens, we can make a difference.

This is a little like driving your car as a protest against road rage. Candles are significantly less efficient than even an incandescent light globe when it comes to providing light, they release more CO2 in creating the light as well as;

A 60 watt light bulb emits about 6 watts of visible light while wasting the remaining 54 watts of electric power as other forms of thermal energy. A candle probably also consumes about 60 watts of chemical energy (the paraffin wax) but emits much less than 3 watts of visible light. The light bulb is clearly not very efficient at converting electric power into visible light but the candle is even less efficient.

I suggest that people make a protest by changing one more incandescent light bulb to a compact fluorescent on Australia Day. In this way their protest will last 10,000 hours. Or maybe organise to take public transport to that Australia Day party rather than drive.

But certainly taking the time to write a letter or email of protest to your local member or the Prime Minister, maybe check out get up and find out the types of action available to you.