Flick Off Canada
Canada's Environment Minister stands in front of "Flick Off" campaign logo.

F*CK OFF LIGHT BULB

Flick Off Branson
"We need you to FLICK OFF, and tell everyone you know to FLICK OFF."

Branson announces FLICK Off campaign (Virgin Airlines will fly Boeing 707 on green fuels). You Tube, Apr 25, 2007

Critics want Canada to "Flick Off" campaign
CBC, Apr 26, 2007
Opposition parties are blasting the Ontario government for supporting a campaign aimed at getting young people to cut energy use and suggestively titled "Flick Off." Launched Wednesday by Environment Minister Laurel Broten and British billionaire Richard Branson, the tongue-in-cheek campaign alludes to a four-letter word and the logo uses a typeface that makes the capital letters "L" and "I" look like a "U."

The campaign's website uses such phrases as "Go flick yourself," and "Are we flicked?" On the homepage, a call to action says: "We need you to FLICK OFF, and tell everyone you know to FLICK OFF. The more you do it, the cooler it gets. The planet, that is."

NDP critic Peter Kormos says the government's endorsement of the campaign will anger parents concerned about the use of foul language by their children. "It's silly, it's embarrassing, and clearly it's an ad agency that has a bunch of flickin' amateurs as employees," said Kormos. Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory echoed Kormos's sentiments, though not as strongly. "I say it's a bad judgment," said Tory. "It shouldn't be done this way. There are plenty of ways to educate kids without using language like this."

Broten said she sees nothing wrong with the government's endorsement of a campaign encouraging people to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. "It's a suitable website for youth. It's a campaign directed at youth," she said.

Others backing the campaign include Environmental Defence, MuchMusic, Roots Canada and Virgin Mobile. Branson, founder of the Virgin empire and an airline tycoon, has already promised millions to fight global warming. As part of the campaign, a cross-Canada challenge will be launched in coming weeks awarding a music festival to the city or community that cuts its emissions most per capita over the summer months.

Sir Richard Branson & Ontario Environment Minister
headline coalition to fight Global Warming
FLICK Off, April 25, 2007
Toronto (Canada)- They appeared in Toronto this morning to announce today’s launch of FLICK OFF – a cross-country initiative designed to educate Canadians about the devastating effects of global warming and motivate people to do something about it. Virgin Mobile, MuchMusic, Roots Canada, Environmental Defence and the Province of Ontario have joined forces to create a dynamic coalition to communicate a simple message: it’s no longer enough to worry about global warming, it’s time to take action and encourage everyone to join in. Canadians are encouraged to participate in FLICK OFF by logging on to www.FLICKOFF.org where they’ll find everything they need to know about the climate crisis and easy-to-implement solutions. Canadians can get informed, calculate their CO2 emissions, make a pledge to cut their energy consumption, and order a guerrilla-style action kit....

Billionaire Branson tells Canada to "Flick Off"
Reuters, Apr 26, 2007
Richard Branson promised a music festival prize on Wednesday to the Canadian community that does the most to cut its greenhouse gas emissions in an environmental challenge called Flick Off. Branson, an entrepreneur who has already promised to channel profits from his Virgin Group business empire into the fight against global warming, said the contest was designed to encourage individuals to cut energy use. "Because we know that everybody loves a challenge, there is a reward for the community that can make the biggest cut in their emissions," he said, promising more details of the prize in coming weeks.

Participants can visit the Web site http://www.flickoff.org to calculate their carbon footprint, get eco-friendly tips and order Flick Off branded clothing, with an edgy logo where the L and the I of the first word curve together to suggest a naughtier message.

The program launched in Canada, but Branson, head of the Virgin Group of music, telephone and airline businesses, said he hoped it would eventually go global. "A huge percentage of the population isn't aware of how big and positive an impact they can have on the environment by doing simple things," he said. "Flick off is to inform, challenge and inspire people to be concerned and to give them a tool to take action."

Opposition flickin' mad over new energy conservation program. CanWestNews, Apr 26, 2007
TORONTO - Ontario's environment minister is defending the provincial government's decision to invest $500,000 in an edgy "flick off" campaign that plays on the "f" word in a bid to encourage young people to conserve energy and reduce greenhouse gases. "This program is about building on the concept of flicking off your light switch ... reducing your environmental footprint and I'm really proud to be part of a government that is willing to tackle to this issue," Laurel Broten told reporters Wednesday after launching the web campaign earlier in the day. "This is a campaign directed at youth."..."That the taxpayer would spend flickin' money on a campaign that is based on telling people to flick off just blows my flickin' mind. Nobody has lost their flickin' sense of humour ... but the minister got burned flickin' big-time. "Parents are going to be flickin' embarrassed ... (They) have enough to deal with (besides) the Ministry of the Environment in a government that simply doesn't give a flick about their children's language." Broten insisted the campaign is aimed at older youth. "If your child is in Grade 5, I say log on to the Ministry of the Environment website where we have a kids' program."

FLICK OFF website

FLICK OFF (...What are we gonna do? We’re going to FLICK OFF, that’s what. If everybody flicks off— if everybody starts conserving energy — it’ll make a huge difference. Here’s why: we burn fossil fuels for energy. Burning fossil fuels releases huge amounts of greenhouse gases. And greenhouse gases, well, they came by their name honestly. They turn our super fabulous planet into a greenhouse. The biggest culprits? Coal for electricity. And oil for cars, trucks, trains, planes and ships. One other thing — we waste energy like crazy. North Americans are the undisputed energy gluttons of the world*. We use old, crappy, inefficient technology; we haven’t embraced wind and solar power; and we have the worst habits on the planet**. Are you starting to get the picture? We need you to FLICK OFF, and tell everyone you know to FLICK OFF. The more you do it, the cooler it gets. The planet, that is.)


Lights out for global warming 'Earth Hour' ("citizens care about climate change") & Branson & climate-change friends conclave (a lot of money riding on global warming). BBC/IHT, Mar 28, 2008. Go to CLIMATE-CHANGE EVIL-DOERS

DIM WIT LIGHT BULBS and GOOD IDEA, BAD IDEA

Age of enlightenment. BBC, Mar 16, 2007
It's hard to think of another electrical component that is more affordable, ubiquitous and disposable; its influence more profound, than the familiar incandescent tungsten filament light bulb. It is largely unchanged from the one that Edison patented 127 years ago....

HUMANITARIAN CONCERTS OTHER SIDE and U2 BONO ARCH-ARCH CAPITALIST and WHOLE WORLD IN THEIR HANDS? and KYOT0 = KILL YOUR OWN TOMORROWS

**China most polluted on planet (wheat kernels dark-sooty-hollow-twisted) & China exempt from cutting greenhouse gases (in spite of world-leading coal use) & Dark cloud of pollution over Hong Kong (from smokestacks of China mainland) & Stinky, oily, orange snow in Russia (nuclear-industrial-radioactive pollution). GlobeMail/Telegraph/Guardian Feb 3, 2007

LENIN BEHIND ENVIRONMENTALISM and WINDMILLS ARE GREEN STALINISM and ENVIRONMENTALISM is ANIMALISM is COMMUNISM

*"Humans are to blame" says UN (says "Americans worst polluters on planet") & UN weather report is a "Corruption of Science" ("a political document...a hoax") & UN mandates that the science be altered ("not approved by scientists but by political delegates of the UN"), ICN/Times/CFP Feb 3, 2007

GARBAGING WORLD'S PURIST WATER and THE WATER BARONS and KYOTO'S WATER WIZARDS

WEATHER CONTROL and GULLIVER DESCRIBES INTELLECTUALS

PENNSYLVANIA IS WIGAN PIER

Taking Russian coal to Newcastle (it finally happens). Northern Echo, Aug 5, 2004
In the once coal-rich North-East, the phrase "taking coals to Newcastle" was a definition of the absurd. But now, what for centuries was unthinkable, has happened - and shipments of cheap Russian coal have arrived on the Tyne. Tyne Dock expects to import up to 70,000 tonnes by December in an experimental deal with a North-East smelter plant. It is a complete turnaround for the port, which at its peak was the largest exporter of coal from the North-East's collieries, sending millions of tonnes a year from the Tyne. The managing director of the Port of Tyne, Keith Wilson, said the port has not exported coal since 1998 but was now delighted to have secured the contract with Alcan for its aluminum production in Lynemouth, Northumberland. He said: "During the last two months, we brought in two shipments of low sulphur coal from Russia. The Tyne was the largest exporter of coal. We do not export coal now but it is ironic we are now starting to import it."...

10.Rulers and 14.Experimentation and 9.Masses Down and 22.Doublethink

Jackie Jura
~ an independent researcher monitoring local, national and international events ~

email: orwelltoday@gmail.com
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