Black Out Daily Kos for Earth Hour - with DIY instructions.

The idea of boycotting DKOS (and all other sites) for Earth Hour, or even shutting it down completely, is currently being discussed.

I would like to suggest a less radical approach: Do the same as Google Denmark is currently doing - change the color scheme to gray on black. If the site is back to normal when you visit it, you can look at Blackle instead

This change in colors would serve two purposes:

1. It reminds every visitor of Earth Hour

2. It reduces the power consumption of the visitors screen.

Note: I do not know the reduction in power consumption - nor am I even sure it is measurable. Any one who knows, please feel free to comment

UPDATE: It seems this may not reduce consumption at all for LCD's. Since the effect is probably neglible anyway, please ignore point 2 above.

Implementation details and DIY instructions for your own site below the fold.

I did a little testing, and Daily Kos can be turned gray on black (with a few bits of orange) by just a few lines of code:

* {
background-color: black !important;
color: #DDD !important
}

The fix is not perfect. For instance, it does not change graphical elements (like the header image). I also chose not to remove the orange borders on boxes - since they let the site keep a bit of its graphical identity during the blackout.

The same code worked for the majority of sites that I tried it on - so if you want to have your own website participating, try adding those lines to your stylesheet. If you want to test it before you make he change, the Web Developer Toolbar extension to Firefox lets you test out such changes to the CSS of a site (there is a similar add-on for Internet Explorer, but i have not tried it).

If you have only a few images, you may even want to make black/grey versions of them using image editing software. Remember to keep a copy of the originals!

If you site is normally using black borders (which will become invisible with this scheme) you can use this additional CSS for making them appear in gray.

* {
border-color: #DDD !important
}

•  I don't expect

  Daily Kos to actually do this - for a site of this site, it should have been planned at least a week ago - but if you have a site which you control, please consider doing this.

  by Lesser Dane on Sat Mar 29, 2008 at 03:21:42 AM PDT

  •  *Sigh*: A site of this SIZE. n/t

    by Lesser Dane on Sat Mar 29, 2008 at 03:24:41 AM PDT

•  Only do this if you have a CRT.

  Darkening the screen on an LCD display actually increases power consumption since the back light stays on and pixels have to be activated to darken them rather than vice versa.  So, no good for laptops or flat screen monitors.

  by Meng Bomin on Sat Mar 29, 2008 at 03:27:34 AM PDT

  •  Actually, I was thinking from the user side,

    I don't see much benefit from the webmaster side, since users with various types of monitors are on the web, and I believe that flat screen monitors outnumber those with CRTs.

    by Meng Bomin on Sat Mar 29, 2008 at 03:30:59 AM PDT

  •  OK, strike point 2 from the list

    Point 1 is the most important one anyway.

    by Lesser Dane on Sat Mar 29, 2008 at 03:49:41 AM PDT

•  Would you like some pie with your blackface?

  ;-)

  by Trix on Sat Mar 29, 2008 at 03:38:28 AM PDT

•  No - turn OFF your computer

  You don't get to participate by burning fuel to generate black pixels. You participate by stopping your use of electricity for one hour.

  Some things, like maybe your refrigerator, you'll leave running. But all the things you can easily turn off, like lights, radios, etc., you should turn off.

  Light a candle and go low tech for an hour.

  by The Raven on Sat Mar 29, 2008 at 03:43:54 AM PDT

  •  I can do both

    ie turn my website black, and turn off my computer.

    By reminding my visitors of Earth Hour, there is a chance that they will participate as well.

    BTW, who are you to decide how I get to participate?

    by Lesser Dane on Sat Mar 29, 2008 at 03:53:55 AM PDT

    •  Who am I

      BTW, who are you to decide how I get to participate?

      I'm somebody who thinks that you wrote a foolish diary.  Google went black today. That should cover all the necessary web-based "reminders."

      by The Raven on Sat Mar 29, 2008 at 04:30:10 AM PDT

      •  google.com is not black from here

        only google.dk is.

        Regarding the "correct" way of participating, I see 2 obligations:

        - use as little electricity as possible - try to get as many people as you can to do the same.

        I am currently working on the second point, not the first.

        by Lesser Dane on Sat Mar 29, 2008 at 06:10:10 AM PDT

        •  If I type this

          http://www.google.com/

          I get a black google.

          by The Raven on Sat Mar 29, 2008 at 06:36:15 AM PDT

•  participation

  if you cant turn your computer off for one hour, i think you might have a bit of a psychological problem.

  BTW: did ya'll notice the MASSIVE ice shelf that just broke off Antarctica?

  by nolabelle on Sat Mar 29, 2008 at 04:26:59 AM PDT

  •  Thanks for the hypothetical diagnosis

    however, how did you get the idea that I can't turn off my computer for one hour?

    by Lesser Dane on Sat Mar 29, 2008 at 05:28:54 AM PDT

    •  the content of your blog.

      its great theory really, i am not dissing you, i just think that there isnt much point in blacking out websites for an hour, what will make a difference is to turn off your computer/lights/appliances.

      by nolabelle on Sat Mar 29, 2008 at 01:04:04 PM PDT

•  If people want to participate

  in this silly, totally meaningless act of half-assed symbolism, they can turn their own computers off - completely off. To go to the trouble of making the screen black and white for one hour is the silliest thing I've ever heard.

  Why not just leave it black and white permanently? Is there some reason why that can't happen? Those of us who actually care about, y'know, shrinking our carbon footprints can find ways to actually shrink it for, y'know, more than one hour.

  What's especially ridiculous about this stunt is that it has been so poorly publicized. I heard a radio commercial about it on Air America Radio that gave the date only once - at the very beginning of the commercial. So you've got the radio on, you're doing the dishes and your mind is wandering - then you notice that the guy on the radio is talking about how everybody should turn their lights off on the same day. So you're thinking: Huh? What day is this happening? And then the commercial ends without telling you what day!

  This happened to me several times until I finally decided the planners of this event must not be trying that hard. Yesterday I asked several of my most environmentally conscious friends if they knew anything about this "Earth Hour." None of them had heard of it.

  This is the most embarrassing piece of bullshit since Hands Across America (another example of people trying to make themselves feel good by engaging in a silly symbolic stunt that accomplishes absolutely nothing). No, I won't be participating. But yes, I have replaced all the incandescent bulbs at my home with compact flourescents, and they will stay in their sockets for more than one hour. And yes, I do recycle.

  And yes, I know I'm not doing enough.  

  And no, I don't have one of those electricity-guzzling HDTVs. I don't even watch TV. And I'm constantly amazed at the number of people here at DKos who are constantly talking about cable TV nitwits like "Tweety" and "Scar" and "Timmeh" and "Wolf." Am I the only one here who doesn't spend all his spare time staring at the tube?

  by Night Train on Sat Mar 29, 2008 at 04:30:54 AM PDT

  •  I think I'll leave my hubby his PC.

    And then I'll go to the box and switch off the rest of the house for an hour.

    I could always throw the main breaker, but I don't think my SO would appreciate that in the least.  

    by Fabian on Sat Mar 29, 2008 at 05:36:20 AM PDT

  •  You forgot... " Get off my lawn! " ;o) n/t

    by jwinIL14 on Sat Mar 29, 2008 at 05:44:50 AM PDT

  •  Well,

    first of all, I agree that the idea of "saving energy" in this way is silly - the savings are neglible at best. So blacking out your site in this way would only serve as a message to visitors. The Google Denmark site has this message (translated):

    We have turned off the light. Now it is your turn.

    Now, you are of course welcome to find the event meaningless. From my perspective, this event is a way to reach people and get publicity for exactly the kind of things you are already doing.

    I a, as you, a little worried that too many people will focus on the actual savings resulting from the event. While there is definitely a point in making a dent in the graphs, the main benefit is one of awareness and publicity.

    As for the publicizing of the event, it probably depends on where you live, and where you get your information from. I have read articles about Earth Hour in several newspaper, received notices on 3 mailing lists - and of course read about it on this site.

    It sounds like whoever is behind the advertising you mention have been doing a bad job. I don't think it is fair to generalize to the entire event.

    Finally: Congratulations on not watching TV. I stopped in 2004.

    by Lesser Dane on Sat Mar 29, 2008 at 05:54:13 AM PDT

•  Local time

  Earth Hour takes place on local time, which means that it's depending on the user's time zone, not the server's.  If I shut down my website for an hour for Eastern Standard Time it will be off outside the range of Earth Hour for a bunch of other people.  So, instead, I'm just going to take care of my own house (and that includes shutting the computer off).

  by juliewolf on Sat Mar 29, 2008 at 05:16:28 AM PDT

  •  You are replying to the wrong diary.

    I am suggesting making your site black, not turning it off.

    The time zone issue is of course still relevant - but I would probably go for blacking out for the entire 24  hour (which is too late to do, though - Earth hour is already over in Sydney).

    by Lesser Dane on Sat Mar 29, 2008 at 06:06:52 AM PDT

    •  Sorry-- I'd make the mistake of assuming...

      ...that turning the pages black had been understood to be absurd by now.

      by juliewolf on Sat Mar 29, 2008 at 08:09:39 AM PDT

•  asdf

  #inane idea {
  text:ignore;
  }

  by stevej on Sat Mar 29, 2008 at 05:58:06 AM PDT