Got this email from a friend who lives in Madrid, Spain today:

El di­a 1 de Febrero de 19:55 a 20:00 se propone apagar todas las luces para dar un respiro al planeta (la propuesta proviene de Francia). Si la respuesta es masiva, el ahorro energetico puede ser brutal. Nada mas 5 minutos, y a ver que pasa. Si, si ya se que estaremos 5 minutos a oscuras y con cara de tontos, pero recordad que internet tiene mucha fuerza y podemos hacer algo grande. Pasad la noticia… es a traves de estas iniciativas como podemos demostrar que aun tenemos fuerza y podemos hacer algo para demostrar a los que tienen el poder, que seguimos siendo nosotros los soberanos del sistema, y no unos pasivos alceñiques a los que moldear a su antojo.

¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡ PASAR LA NOTICIA !!!!!!!!!!!

Roughly translated, it says that there is a nationwide appeal — from France — to switch off all lights on the 1st of Feb from 7.55pm to 8.00pm. Big, right?

Anyway, I Googled it tonight (using the keywords ‘switch off feb 1′ and the 3rd item on the results list took me this discussion on the Free Republic.

Switch off for the planet

We are asked to switch off all electricity from 7.55pm until 8pm on February 1 by Le Alliance pour la Planete, a grouping of 72 environmental organisations which includes the World Wildlife Fund, Greenpeace and the Nicolas Hulot association. This is a call for a nationwide five-minute respite for the planet, and is intended to draw attention to citizens’ concern about energy consumption.

The following day the report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change http://www.ipcc.ch will be published in France.

Thing is, this will create a big surge when everybody switches all electricity back on after the 5-minute pause. It might even cause a breakdown. So even when the cause is admirable, it does sound ludicrous.

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