On February 20, 2007, Australia announced that it would phase out the sale of the incandescent light bulbs (that we use nowadays) by 2010 and replace them with CFL (compact fluorescent light) bulbs.
Two months after Australia's announcement, the Canadian government announced that it too would phase out sales of incandescents by 2012.
On December 19, 2007, USA also announced that it will phase out incandescent bulbs by 2014.
In fact, President Bush signed an energy bill that will make the production or sale of the incandescent bulbs illegal after the phase-out period, which means people will be forced to buy the CFLs whether they like it or not.
The European Union announced in March 2007 that it plans to cut carbon emissions by 20 percent by 2020. Part of this cut will be achieved by replacing incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents. Over the next 10 years, China, which makes 70 percent of the world's light bulbs, has agreed to phase out incandescent bulbs in favor of CFLs (www.myproductalert.com/cfl-compact-fluorescent-light.html)
Sure. All of us want to participate to save the planet, to go green, to reduce our footprints on earth. Still,
I am not alone when I suggest that this is a bad solution for many of us. Gee---I have trouble sitting in a
classroom with fluorescent lighting, so I am really gonna have troubles with living 24/7 with it, compact or not.
It may be necessary to contact Health and Human Services and protest against a kind of forced situation that
may aggravate our conditions as well as the conditions of other disabled.
I know throwing over incandescent light bulbs seems like a good idea, but one simply can't unilaterally decide
without taking into consideration the needs of others who must live among the 300,000,000
that populate our country.
Remember, one in fifty of us has epilepsy and our population alone will be poorly served by this decision.
But there are others who suffer from exposure to this kind of lighting, and so to force it on us is simply cruel.
A better strategy might be to rethink how we will proceed, to see if another way exists that might be healthier
for all of us.
3 comments:
Hi Paula!
I'm new to your site, but I absolutely love you blog and style of writing! You are a true inspiration!
Commenting on the post though....My husband and I are trying (keyword trying) to switch over to thecompact fluorescents, but I've been complaining about how much they've bother my eyes (as I'm really light sensitive). Frankly we have stopped buying them, because they bother me so much. And it's a bummer, because they really do save! What do we do???
Paula, thank you again for posting such a relevant issue. I also have major trouble with flourescents and was a major factor at my last job. I'm sorry to see these special blubs go. How can I help?
I was watching a show last week that talked about compact fluorescent bulbs causing migraines. I have horrible migraines myself, but I only use CFL bulbs in a couple of the lamps I have so they are not turned on that often. I wonder if this will be looked into more once this law goes into effect and what will happen?
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