Reply #37: Most of our power is hydro anyhow.

[LeftyMom]

So it's not really a global warming issue. Habitat loss, water issues? Sure, but the dam's already there (and if it wasn't, most of my town would be a swamp, so we're kinda stuck with it.)

Unless there's sufficiently widescale participation that the local power plant can reduce production, there's no real effect at all, even if the local plant is something ghastly like coal.

My worry is that people who get roped into meaningless stuff like this think they've actually done their part. Or that when they figure out how meaningless acts like this are, they'll be less likely to follow up with something significant. The funny thing is, with minor modification, this could have some effect. Just get everybody to shut off their AC for an hour in the summer. Better yet, a whole day. Then a whole bunch of dirty "peaker" plants can lie dormant, carbon emissions would go down a bit, and people who learned coping strategies other than keeping a house arctic cold in August might reduce their power in the long term. Or encouraging people to park their cars for the weekend, or to eat a plant-based diet and talking about the impact of their diet on their carbon footprint, or...

But sitting around in the dark for an hour at a time when consumption is already low? Kinda useless.