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Rufus Wainwright is calling for a self-imposed blackout. The musician proposes that we all set our sundials to noon on June 21st to signal a group shut down of all electric lights, appliances and anything else that plugs in...for 12 hours. His hope is to call attention to global warming and energy conservation.
In order to promote the day, called Blackout Sabbath, he'll be holding an intimate, acoustic, candlelit concert at the Angel Orensanz Foundation. Sadly, this March 19th performance is already sold out, but perhaps his pitch for the summer solstice blackout will be inspiration enough:
"I loved the New York power outage! I found it incredibly invigorating, spiritual and practical at the same time: we all had to pay attention to each other! Not to mention that Manhattan in total darkness was oddly enough a beautiful sight to behold."Before the June event, Earth Hour will be coming up at the end of this month. While many NYC businesses are supporting the event, the city isn't an official participant. The World Wildlife Fund told us "to physically turn off the lights on some of these iconic buildings and landmarks is logistical challenge and not every city was able to make that sort of commitment this year. It's taking us teams of people in each city to coordinate. Hopefully next year NYC is officially on board."
If you want to participate on your own level, Earth Hour just asks that you turn off your lights at 8 p.m. on March 29th. Looks like blackouts are the new black in '08.
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shut down of all electric lights, appliances and anything else that plugs in...for 12 hours.
I'm guessing my refrigerator is my largest single electricity user in my apartment. So when half of my food spoils is that really good for the environment?
I loved the New York power outage! I found it incredibly invigorating, spiritual and practical at the same time: we all had to pay attention to each other!
Obviously Mr Wainwright didn't have to walk from Wall Street to W 86th in high heels like my wife did, or he might have loved it just a little bit less.
I loved the New York power outage! I found it incredibly invigorating, spiritual and practical at the same time: we all had to pay attention to each other!
Obviously Mr Wainwright didn't have to walk from Wall Street to W 86th in high heels like my wife did, or he might have loved it just a little bit less.
Decay is a natural process...
In any case, according to the USDA, a full freezer will keep food for 48 hours without power. Only 4 hours for the fridge, though.
A concert in an enclosed space with lots of people, candles, and no working ventilation system sounds like F-U-N to me!
#3 - "Obviously Mr Wainwright didn't have to walk from Wall Street to W 86th in high heels like my wife did, or he might have loved it just a little bit less."
What makes you so sure he didn't?
#3 - "Obviously Mr Wainwright didn't have to walk from Wall Street to W 86th in high heels like my wife did, or he might have loved it just a little bit less."
What makes you so sure he didn't?
In any case, according to the USDA, a full freezer will keep food for 48 hours without power. Only 4 hours for the fridge, though.
Those numbers usually take into account that you leave the door shut i.e. don't go in the fridge to get food to eat. Probably not a huge issue since during most of the day I'll be elsewhere using someone else's electricity to eat. And then I'll go home and fire up the fridge again which naturally will use much more power to get up and running and get the inside back down to the appropriate temperature.
i dunno, why can't you do it on the same day as the global earth hour.
doing this everytime someone demands it is going to fracture the cause.
We wish that Rufus would've talked to us about his campaign, as we've organized for 3 years now a modest, informal "Blackout" evening on the anniversary of the actual NYC Blackout.
http://www.blackoutnyc.com
Sure, it's very informal, self-organized, and brought together by a bunch of overworked and exhausted non-profiteers and startups, but it has been growing and there's a real sense of community behind the event (despite the lack of press coverage, which we admittedly didn't work hard enough to cultivate), between the bars and establishments we've been working with and the crowds that come out to the gatherings.
We don't have any celeb endorsements, alas. Maybe Rufus will join forces with our established cause?
-Ben Jervey
http://www.blackoutnyc.com
This is a very bad idea.
At the end of 12 hours, when everyone turns their appliances on at the same time, there will be a surge that will cause a real blackout for the entire city.
I learned this while living in a country that had planned blackouts due to lack of power. People learned the hard way to not start turning everything on immediately after the power becomes available.
This is just another ridiculous publicity stunt. Another no-name musician trying to profit off of the whole global warming scandal.
Who does this jibone think he is?
The only guys who can do blackouts are ConEd.
he'll be holding an intimate, acoustic, candlelit concert ... Sadly, this March 19th performance is already sold out...
this is indeed tragic. hopefully someone is scalping these tickets.
In addition to the power surge problem when the twelve hour blackout ended, I wouldn't particularly like the idea should the blackout include all those aircraft warning lights across the city.