Earth hour, which takes place on March 29th at 8:00 P.M. your local time, is an event sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund to raise awareness of the dire1 threat of climate change.
What do you have to do? Nothing much, just turn your lights off for an hour when 8pm rolls around. I’m planning on hitting my circuit-breaker for a total blackout, but you don’t have to go that far. Want to participate? Head over to the Earth Hour website for more information.
Now this is one of those “make a lot of publicity but not have much of a real effect” events, so not even the organizers would argue that this would save the world, so don’t worry about that part of it.
Notes:
- Hyperbole much? Yes and no. My view of climate change is: if we want to kill ourselves slowly, let’s go ahead and do it. [↩]
How Geography Contributes to the Israel-palestinian Conflict.
Most of the conflict in the region is between the Israeli Government and the various Palestinian organizations intent on the destruction of any lasting peace in the region. While the main reasons that these organizations have been able to acquire people and resources is because of religious differences and intolerance on both sides of the conflict, the geography of the area has the effect of fanning the flames.
The climate of Israel is one of the major geographical causes behind the strife. As you can see on the map in many Palestine areas the land is infertile and unable to support large numbers of people. As a result many of the inhabitants of the Palestinian areas are unable to produce enough food or find work to support themselves and their families; because of this the less fortunate residents must turn to the various aid groups in the region who provide work, food, and entertainment to meet their basic needs. Unfortunately these groups are the same that organize both protests against Israel and the frequent bombings of civilians that plague the area. While most of the people that join these groups know there is a large difference between protesting and murder, as with any group there are those who are desperate enough to kill themselves and others to ensure their families financial well-being.
