June 21, 2001

11:35 AM

I hope you'll consider participating in the "Roll Your Own" Blackout tonight. Just shut off all the lights and appliances that you (reasonably and safely) can between seven and ten p.m. your time.
posted by sudama (49 comments total)

According to the Q and A, "your darkened house, and the utilities' lower demand figures, will signify your vote of 'no confidence' in the energy policies now coming from Washington." Realistically, it's unlikely that the power companies will even register the action, but I like the idea for two reasons. One, it will be a nice moment of political solidarity with like-minded folk across the country. And two, (two even works if you aren't turned on by the ideology) this is an opportunity to get a new perspective on my relationship with electricity -- not to mention with our sun, Sol. This is his day, after all.
posted by sudama at 11:36 AM on June 21, 2001

Damn, it's 7:30 pm here and you go and spring this on me!. I haven't had any time to psychologically prepare myself for such extreme out-of-the-womb trauma. Right, here goes.. Wish me luck.. Where's that fusebox. Aha.. Hey, wonder if i'll have time to finish this sentence before i temporarily enter a self-enforced virtual stone-ag
posted by Kino at 11:47 AM on June 21, 2001

Where is this site hosted? I wish to check it from 7-10 pm in its local time zone, to see if it's going to be shut down during that period or if it's going to continue to use electricity.
posted by aaron at 11:58 AM on June 21, 2001

Well aaron, since the site is probably hosted at a company/facility separate from the organizers, I doubt they have any control over it.
posted by alan at 12:05 PM on June 21, 2001

You can commune with Sol if you like. I agree with this guy.
posted by mw at 12:10 PM on June 21, 2001

No guts. 7 to 10 is a pretty low demand time anyway. If you really want to make a difference, just unplug totally.
posted by norm at 12:11 PM on June 21, 2001

So, am I the only one who gets the almost unbearable urge to turn on their air conditioning and all their lights between 7:00 and 10:00 tonight?
posted by mrbula at 12:12 PM on June 21, 2001

California. Is where they're hosted.
posted by sonofsamiam at 12:13 PM on June 21, 2001

Tho I won't be blacking out tonight, in the coming months I hope to start an "electric sabath" as derided here, (mostly) blacking out the home on Sundays.
posted by claxton6 at 12:20 PM on June 21, 2001

Sounds like fun, but no thanks. I have a movie to watch tonight.
posted by daveadams at 12:26 PM on June 21, 2001

If this organization would give me a free solar panel, I might do it though.
posted by daveadams at 12:26 PM on June 21, 2001

mrbula: That was my first thought.
posted by mw at 12:32 PM on June 21, 2001

Sonofsamiam, that's just the whois information. It has no bearing on where the computer that hosts the site is located.
posted by alan at 12:38 PM on June 21, 2001

I'm not shutting off a damn thing. I already turn off unused appliances and lights, don't use air conditioning, and got some compact fluorescents.
It's ridiculous to foist responsibility on home consumers when businesses like the Gap continue to light their wares full blast even when they're closed! Let's get rid of subsidy like rates for business and make them stop their wasteful practices.
posted by roboto at 12:45 PM on June 21, 2001

I'm not shutting off a damn thing. I already turn off unused appliances and lights, don't use air conditioning, and got some compact fluorescents.
It's ridiculous to foist responsibility on home consumers when businesses like the Gap continue to light their wares full blast even when they're closed! Let's get rid of subsidy like rates for business and make them stop their wasteful practices.
posted by roboto at 12:46 PM on June 21, 2001

Yeah, but look how you wasted that extra post! Shame!

;-)
posted by Avogadro at 12:49 PM on June 21, 2001

While we're at it, let's make the go stop their moronic commercials! And all that folding. It gives me the creeps.
posted by websavvy at 12:50 PM on June 21, 2001

That would be Gap, as in "Gapping out while typing".
posted by websavvy at 12:50 PM on June 21, 2001

heh, oops - doubleclick
I like Meg's idea - they'll definitely notice if you don't pay yer bill!
posted by roboto at 12:52 PM on June 21, 2001

Nice touch Roboto - posting that comment twice as a rebellious gesture of your stance on this issue. [Quits pedaling his bicycle turbine, switches back on his fusebox, fires up every appliance in his house and raises his fist aloft in a show of inspired solidarity]
posted by Kino at 12:58 PM on June 21, 2001

claxton6: Would that be a "Black(out) Sabbath" ?

In that same vein, I'd like to suggest "Black Out Arkansas" - those bastards don't need the electricity, right?

Get Ozzy on the phone.
posted by CrazyUncleJoe at 1:03 PM on June 21, 2001

I'm not at home, but I unplugged before I left. I'm still using electricity, but it's not mine...does that matter?
posted by 7sharp11 at 1:11 PM on June 21, 2001

I think the office would be pretty upset if I turned off their electricity tonight when I work from 5-11....
posted by Espoo2 at 1:19 PM on June 21, 2001

This is just... silly. It reminds me of my other favorite form of protest, California-style: the regular shutting down of San Francisco's downtown streets at rush hour on a Friday afternoon by bike riders called Critical Mass. Yeah, that gets a lot of people to see your point of view ("Wow, I can't get home in under four hours because a bunch of bike messengers have nothing better to do but pretend they're enviro-activists... I think I'll just go sell my Range Rover!"). I'm sure there are plenty of effective, positive things you can do if you're really worried about the California energy "crisis" - sitting around in semi-darkness for three hours just doesn't seem like one of them.
posted by m.polo at 1:19 PM on June 21, 2001

alan: that's true. I think they're in virginia, actually.
posted by sonofsamiam at 1:21 PM on June 21, 2001

Roboto, I agree with you completely. My wife and I are now very conservation minded and have cut the electric portion of our PG&E bill about 30% from last year, so I think I'm doing my part. I'll watch the coverage of the voluntary blackouts on CNN tonight.
posted by msacheson at 1:23 PM on June 21, 2001

Get Ozzy on the phone.

I dunno. Did Ozzy go acoustic?
posted by claxton6 at 1:26 PM on June 21, 2001

Claxton - Until all the information contained in a couple of broadsheet newspapers and the paradisic enjoyment value of a top-notch quality Sunday roast comes condensed into one handy, easily digestible, spaceage, barbarella-esque bitesized pil (stick early-70's version Fonda in their too if poss) there's no way i'm blacking out my pad on Sundays!... Opening the windowblinds and stepping out of it-ain't-Saturday-night-anymore denial before the inevitability of Monday mornings is a compromise i just couldn't bring myself to make.
posted by Kino at 1:32 PM on June 21, 2001

Kino: The way the plan is going, it's not going to be an absolute thing. Like, cooking will be excepted. And I'm not sure why you can't black-out and read the paper. And stuff like school-work will come before the blackout.

It's not so much something I'm looking to do so that I can be an absolutist about things, but simply as a way of formalizing "leisure time" into something that's actually leisurely.
posted by claxton6 at 1:37 PM on June 21, 2001

I started my voluntary black-out early. I'm sitting in the dark right now. I'm not even writing this.
posted by bilco at 1:46 PM on June 21, 2001

Is it just me or does this 'Sabbath campaign' sound like serious church fueled propaganda to go some way towards reclaiming the day into its traditional dulcet guise by subliminally synergizing its agenda with a worthy cause and socially pressuring people to adhere?. Oh god... Where am i? The quack said these episodes would decrease in frequency once i stopped sniffing glue.
posted by Kino at 1:49 PM on June 21, 2001

This is a pain in the ass! I like to peer through my neighbor's windows, with telescope, and if they put out their lights I am screwed unless they cavort by candlelight. They usually leave the lights on in the bedroom and the shade partially up cause they get excited knowing I am excited.
posted by Postroad at 1:57 PM on June 21, 2001

roboto is the common sense hero. Bravo, all that wasted juice, lit empty parking lots, billboards, people cranking AC all day(for the dog or record collection)...we all need to cut back on juice..."finished with my power cause it couldnt help me with my life, people think im insane because im am driving all the time...
posted by clavdivs at 2:02 PM on June 21, 2001

[So, am I the only one who gets the almost unbearable urge to turn on their air conditioning and all their lights between 7:00 and 10:00 tonight?]

No - I've turned on just about everything I can find.
posted by revbrian at 2:02 PM on June 21, 2001

Postroad you bastard! Stop looking at me!!!
posted by a3matrix at 2:04 PM on June 21, 2001

posted by jdiaz at 2:10 PM on June 21, 2001

Claxton, my Sundays are already formulatedly leisurely. In that i wake up at some undefined hour, be as lazy as possible whilst ensuring that i satisfy any renegade neurons that haven't quite syncronized themselves with my internal daily schedule. Only snag is - they're also filled with enough electric powered gadgets to keep the average Bulgarian village in heat for a decade of long, eerie winters (it can get damn cold there - they rely on little electric heaters, albiet crap ones.. luckily - or Helga would sleeping with the goats..).
posted by Kino at 2:18 PM on June 21, 2001

Hold it! Dont move... I need back that 'formulatedly' word.. Folks over at dictionary.com want to examine it and run a few tests. Here, take this one instead for now ---> 'formalized and'.. [Phew].
posted by Kino at 2:29 PM on June 21, 2001

Can I change "belatedly" into "belized and"?
posted by websavvy at 2:44 PM on June 21, 2001

I was just at my friendly neighborhood co-op grocery, and they are participating. I don't know how far they're going; I bet they won't turn the dairy fridge off.
posted by redfoxtail at 2:57 PM on June 21, 2001

My electric company is a co-op. I have no beef with them, and my electric bills are less than $15/month thanks to the wood stove and the propane hot water heater and oven.

While I do really appreciate people doing what makes them feel good with regards to grassroots "send them a message" activism, if you're serious about power issues you can also spend some time by candle light reflecting on what caused us to get into this mess in CA in the first place [deregulation, unfettered greed, reliance on artificial cooling systems when the temp goes over 80 degrees, companies getting a return on investments for shareholders without concern for cutomers, etc]. when you turn the lights back on, see if you can spend 10-15 minutes a day working on those issues as well.
posted by jessamyn at 3:06 PM on June 21, 2001

Speaking of conservation. Does anyone think Barbra herself tries "to line dry as much as possible"?
posted by mw at 3:53 PM on June 21, 2001

Can I change "belatedly" into "belized and"?

Course Websavvy; long as the natives don't mind. And what if they do.. good ol' American navy will scare them back into the trees before they can say 'leverage'.. but then, always would be hard to speak three syllables with an elongated neck and a bone through ya tongue.

I was just at my friendly neighborhood co-op grocery, and they are participating. I don't know how far they're going; I bet they won't turn the dairy fridge off.

Heavens no Redfox.. Wasting perfectly good icecream would be going a little toOoOo far!!

Does anyone think Barbra herself tries "to line dry as much as possible"?

Only when she drools on her cocaine mid-snort, Mw.
posted by Kino at 4:19 PM on June 21, 2001

Here's another nay-vote.
posted by Steven Den Beste at 5:23 PM on June 21, 2001

well, I'm doing it. much less to send gw bush a message and much more because if enough people *did* do it, it would be noticable. and I think it's important to demonstrate occasionally that a large group of people doing a small thing in concert can make a big difference.

I doubt if it will make even a blip, but I'm doing it anyway.

all that means around here is turning off one fan and two computers and one light, and then not turning anything else on (I'm leaving the refrigerator plugged in). it's no biggie: it's the longest day of the year, it will still be light most of the time. - rcb
posted by rebeccablood at 5:35 PM on June 21, 2001

'I doubt if it will make even a blip, but I'm doing it anyway'

Oh, it will on our worlds Rcb, it will on our worrrrlds..

'all that means around here is turning off one fan and two computers and one light, and then not turning anything else on.. '

Exactly.
posted by Kino at 8:10 PM on June 21, 2001

well, I'm back. I made apricot cobbler and then we ate it by candlelight, and then we hung out and talked and then went downstairs to see what our electricity consumption was, and then we did hand shadows until the blackout was over.

it was fun, and I'm glad I did it. - rcb
posted by rebeccablood at 10:21 PM on June 21, 2001

'and then not turning anything else on.. '

Ahh ahh ahhhh, tsk! tsk! looks like you never stuck to your plan of action afterall.. yeh yeh.. 'talked'!

Oh hang on, just a minute.. unless 'we' meant it was a family occassion of course. Damnit!! [takes his foot out of his mouth]. I don't know about you but i feel soiled! Anyone got a rubber.. erm, shit, i mean an eraser. Damn! [gets his coat and drives to the nearest mountain]
posted by Kino at 10:35 PM on June 21, 2001