Just so you know, VAB is turning off its lights for Earth Hour 2008.It seems ridiculous to post this, as quite simply, we always have the lights off when the studio isn't open. It's been that way since the studio moved to 1 Bartley Bull Parkway in 1992. It's just commonsense, to not rack up an electricity bill.
Oh, and Artway Gallery, Fridge Front Gallery, and World Art Gallery are also technically participating. They aren't shutting off their lights, because they don't have any. So over the past three years, they've been "carbon neutral".
Comment from Nick Moreau
Frankly, not only is it ironic that people are burning up gas to go to Earth Hour events, but that in Australia, they had an Earth Hour hot air balloon (video).
For starters, the Melbourne Herald Sun says that one balloon burned up so much gas, emitting so much carbon dioxide, that an additional 10,000 lights will have to be turned off to make up for it. Less obviously there's a world helium shortage, and useless back-patting hot air balloons like this put MRI machines at eventual risk. A second, rarer type of helium is also at risk, despite the possibility that it could provide us with a "clean, virtually infinite power source."
Don't get me wrong: if you don't normally turn off the lights when they aren't being used, please participate in Earth Hour. Just participate a bit more regularly than once a year. -- Nick Moreau
