The eight latest cities to join “Earth Hour” are Atlanta, San Francisco and Phoenix in the US; Thailand’s capital Bangkok; Ottawa, Vancouver and Montreal in and Dublin Ireland.

They join Australian cities Sydney, Perth Melbourne, Canberraa, Brisbane, Adelaide; Denmark’s Copenhagen, Aarhus, Aalborg and Odense ; the Philippien Capita Manila, Fiji’s biggest city Suva,Christ church in New Zeland: Chicago; Tel Aviv And Toronto

The “Earth Hour” concept, which is managed by the conservation group WWF, to extend beyond the borders of these countries on the scheduled start time of 8:00 pm local time on Saturday March 29.

The idea is that anyone could do it, whether they were in a small village in France Or a city like Sydney. The Sydney event, in which residents were asked to switch off lights and appliances for one hour, had raised awareness about the problem of global warming while reducing Greenhouse gas emissions by conserving energy.

I know that on the night we thought we might be able to cut energy use in the city by five percent but it ended up being 10.1 percent,” he said.

He said he hoped Earth Hour provided a “very big visual message” to politicians that Climate changes must be addressed quickly.

The problem is massive but we do make a difference when we all take action.

• Switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs to save money and reduce emissions. Lighting accounts for around 5% of household greenhouse gas emissions, and compact fluros use 75% less energy than an equivalent incandescent bulb. Although the bulbs cost more up-front, you will actually save money through the energy saved and extended life of the bulb.
• Turn appliances off while not in use. Unplug any appliances like mobile phone chargers, TVs, microwaves, MP3 players, which are not being used and are on standby. In Australia, appliances on standby consume up to 10% of your electricity bill.
• Turn off anything that doesn’t need to be on. A good rule is to turn off anything not being used. When you leave a room or leave the house, turn off your lights or appliances like the TV or computer.
• Switch to green power. This is one of the best ways you can make a difference. Contact your electricity provider today and switch to green power, a cleaner, more renewable form of energy that does not contribute to global warming. If all Australians switched to green power today, Australia’s total greenhouse pollution would be cut by 30% in one year. That’s the equivalent of more than 40 million cars!
• Use less hot water. This is not only a good water saving tip, it saves electricity too. Spend one minute less in the shower.

We get advice from everyone we see. My wife got some advice from a stock boy at Price Chopper. He recommended to buy our bread from a local bread store. It was the same bread at a lower price. My wife hasn’t purchase it from the local bread store. to date.. I’m sure she will some day. What caused her to purchase it from Price Chopper? Was it the advice of a kid? The inconvenience of another store? Or was it a time factor? Or did she get some information from another person conflicting with the stock boy?

There are so many sources of conflicting advice it is difficult to know who to listen to. Each new piece of advice can be as convincing as the one that came before it. What should you do?

Here another short story.. A close friend was looking for some tires. He called his dad for some information on a certain tire store. Well J ask me for a user name and pass word for the Tire Rack. It’s a tire store we use sometime to get some really good prices. I told J to check out Greg’s tire. Now I will make this story short.. Steve was looking at the cheapest price. After calling Shore Tire, and a few other stores He found the tire and the price he was looking for. So my advice wasn’t so good.. So there you have it.. Here’s some guide lines

How do you choose who to listen to?

Do you take the word of

• the most influential,
• the most popular,
• the most convincing,
• the loudest,
• the most confident,
• or maybe what they perceive to be the safest.

The fact is, at worst people do not have any idea what will work for you, and at best they can only rely on their own experience. Certainly I give you the benefit of what I have learned through my work, but you still have to work out what will work for you.

I am still learning, things still take me by surprise. Many may have heard me say before, I am of the opinion you can learn something from every person you meet. Your job is to not blindly accept what you are told but collate it, cogitate on it and apply it in your own unique way.

Work out the approaches that suit you best, that fit what you are trying to achieve and how. Which stories resonate with you, and enthuse you, separate out those that leave you cold.

Most of you know. I have a partner. I call him the senior partner. The most important thing I have learned from J is have a goal. And work that goal. With any goal the idea is to get from where you are now to where you want to be. We all understand that, but sometimes we don’t act like this is the case. How many times have you looked at your situation and wished that it could be instantly different? Or looked at a friend, relative or a neighbor and wanted what they have? Sometimes we will see someone seemingly have an overnight success and wonder how they managed it.

The thing is no matter if there seem to be immediate results for others, or if your results take time, in all cases there has been a journey from A to B. Some people start out closer to their goal but there is always a journey and there are no magic wands. If you want to succeed with any project you have to first understand that you have to travel the distance. You have to work out the steps that are required and then follow them. People think they can teleport, they look for short-cuts, secret tricks and cut corners.

A lot of the time when people do not succeed it is because they didn’t stick on the journey they set out on. People start one journey then switch to what looks like an easier or more fun route. One day they are going to be a day policeman, printer, a retail store owner, no – wait, a manager at a big firm. Imagine if this was a real journey. You would obviously never arrive at a destination because you are constantly turning around or changing direction. The traveling would only end when you were too tired to go on.

When you are on a real journey you don’t give up half way. You at least try to get somewhere. Yes, you might stop for a breather. Have a rest, gather your thoughts. But you head on back out until you get where you intended to be A lot of this is confidence. Knowing that you can and will get there. Not allowing doubt to cloud your mind, and being willing to accept help when required.

How many time have you heard from your kids.. “Are we there yet?” Half the benefit to any kind of travel is what you see and experience on the way. Each journey leads to the next. We build on experience and we gain experience by doing. It is one thing to read about another’s travels, quite another to experience it for yourself. With this mindset a long journey can be a joy not a chore. Also journeys are often made up of smaller trips. You can tell you are making progress by the milestones and landmarks you pass. Each is an achievement in itself.

There will be speed bumps, hills and obstacles. That is not the universe conspiring against you, just how it is sometimes. Just keep going then when you look back you will have the satisfaction of knowing you overcome everything that was put in your path.

Before you set out on your journey you need to know where you are going.

• Where is it you want to be?
• How far are you from your destination?
• What are the steps you need to make to get there?
• Can you take the first step today?
• How will you know when you are there?

Whatever it is you want to achieve, make a deal with yourself that you will start your journey today.

This is one of many post On used appliance prices and scams. We have several appliance stores in the Independence Area. I will not give the names here, but what I’m trying to do is inform you as the buyer. You should buy Quality and Not Price. I have many times repaired those used appliances sold by the other stores in the area.
These stores plug them in and if the work, they sell them. If they don’t, Well they scrap the one’s that don’t work.. They just don’t have the knowledge or people to repair the appliance. When the customer has a problem, they switch them out to a different appliance.