Going Green

It's a new year, and that's an opportunity for a new start!

One of the things I received for Christmas from my grandson was a set of six compact fluorescent lightbulbs for the outside of the house. Because of the extremely cold weather since Christmas, these have yet to be installed, but I'm hoping they soon will be, now that it's warmed up to -14 degrees C (there is something fundamentally wrong with that statement--that it's "warmed up" yet it's only -14, but that's another story for another day!)

Yesterday, I replaced other incandescent bulbs in the house with CFLs: my bedroom and the living room lights (except for the single potlight). Those of you who have "gone green" in this way know that slight "hesitation" of perhaps two seconds (or maybe only two microseconds) between the moment you turn on the light at the switch and the moment the lights actually turn on. (I have already been warned by another in my household that under no circumstances am I to replace the lights in the entranceway at the front door because "it would make the entrance dim and unwelcoming."

I protest by saying that soon, we won't be able to buy incandescent bulbs, but I think there is a plan afoot here to begin hoarding those soon-hard-to-find bulbs. Regardless, I carry on.

It does take some getting used to. The light doesn't seem as bright, even though I replaced 60-watt bulbs with 60-watt-equivalent bulbs. For someone who likes bright light and doesn't see so well in dim light, I can't say I'm entirely pleased with the effect. Maybe the technology just isn't there yet. Regardless, I carry on.

Hopefully, this will make a difference, both personally and globally. Personally, because we don't always to remember to turn the lights off when we leave a room. We live where summer is short and winter is dark and so the lights are on a lot in our house. We are two families living on two levels in our house and so that's a lot of lights that go on and off during the day. Personally, because electricity is rising in price and our household use doesn't qualify at the moment for the lower price in the two-tier system recently implemented by the utility company.

Globally . . . well, we all have to do our part. Use less, reuse more, reduce our footprint.

Last year, it was plastic bags. in our household, we made an effort to reduce the number of plastic shopping bags coming in to the house. We set up a system: reusable bags that were stashed in the vehicle, came into the house with the groceries, and then went back to the vehicle to be reused. It took some getting used to, some planning, some remembering. Were we 100% successful? No, but we made an effort and created a new pattern, a new habit.

This year, it's the lights. I carry on.