A Bright [and energy efficient] Idea!
Now that so many of us are finally recgonizng the destruction that is currently going down in regards to the earth and her future, I thought it would make sense to bring a little piece of information to your attention just as it was brought to mine last night.
I called my Aunt Dukey Donna [yeah, Dukey isn't really like on her birth certificate or anything, it's just her nickname, in case you were wondering what the hell that is all about]... anyhoo, I called my Aunt Dukey Donna last night to wish her a happy mother's day and after some pleasant bit o' reminiscing of her mother, who is my Meema, who passed away one year ago this coming June 9th, naturally the next step in conversation is to discuss incandescent light bulbs vs [CFL] Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs. Afterall, yesterday was Mother's Day and what greater mother is there outside of our own mother earth. This is not a question... but rather a blatant actuality.
We've all seen them... and many of us buy them as using them makes us feel a wee bit better about doing our part in helping save the planet that has been, afterall, so good to us all these years. So learning what I learned last night was interesting to me because I really had no idea about the details of using this funky, swirly lightbulb that reminds me of a delicious vanilla Dairy Queen ice cream cone.
I'm too lazy to actually type out the following, so rather than do that, I am just C&P'ing it from the Internet.
The first blurb will educate those of us who are NOT yet using these bulbs, perhaps due to not even knowing much about them or just not caring enough. The last sentence is my favorite part.
Why should people use CFLs? Switching from traditional light bulbs to CFLs is an effective, accessible change every person can make right now to reduce energy use at home and prevent greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global climate change. Lighting accounts for close to 20 percent of the average home’s electric bill. Changing to CFLs costs little upfront and provides a quick return on investment. If every home replaced just one incandescent light bulb with an ENERGY STAR qualified CFL, it would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes and prevent greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those of more than 800,000 cars annually.
Okay. That's the gist of WHAT it will do to help save energy. Now, this next part is what I didn't know because nobody is really making it very noticably clear.
CFLs should not be disposed of in an incinerator. In other words, do not throw these in the regular ol' trash can once the bulb burns out. And if it should break, do not suck up the pieces with a vacuum cleaner. As you may or may not know, CFL's contain a very small amount of Mercury within them; an average of 5 milligrams, which is roughly equivalent to an amount that would cover the tip of a ball-point pen.
Not really a huge deal, right? Picture this.... if everybody tosses the bulbs in the garbage, which then gets put out on the curb with all the other neighborhood garbage cans, and that garbage gets dumped into a big truck, which collects garbage every day of the week, and then magnify that by every residential and commercial dumpster in every city in all the lands, and then ALL that garbage gets taken to a big ol' stinkilicious landfill after being crushed as flat as a skinny white girl's ass, that toxic mercury gets released into our air, thus polluting it, which kinda sorta defeats everything we are trying NOT to do because we want our children's children to have a pretty place to live when we're long gone and not have to be cleaning up the horrible mess that past generations have left behind.
I, for one, am not a fool by any means, however, sometimes I forget to read or miss the 'fine print' so if we are simply made better aware of things, I'm certain those of us who care enough will abide by the rules, whether it's convenient or not. Afterall, we're using energy efficient bulbs to begin with which demonstrates a concern in and of itself and I'm certain that those same people will properly dispose of these bulbs when the time comes. But, some of us need to be aware of the rules and sometimes our hands need to be held a little bit. That's all. I throw my regular bulbs away all the time in the garbage and now that I'm starting to switch over to the CFL's, I honestly quite possibly would have been tossing them in the garbage can simply from not knowing any better. Indeed, a case where ignorance is not bliss.
So.... after talking to my Aunt Dukey Donna, I promised her that I would start spreading the word here in the Southeastern part of our country, she would handle the Toronto area. Just mention it to people... some may already know.... others may not have a clue.... it will only do good to bring it up and besides.... it'll make you seem hella-aware and hella-cool. Almost as hella-cool as using the prefix "hella" when in conversation.
For additional information and understanding exactly what to do, please read this [PDF]:
Love your Mother. Peace Out Blog Readers.
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