The EU has started phasing out conventional light bulbs and the reactions I’m seeing around here are about as negative as I expected, seeing as it’s a decision that inconveniences people somewhat. Even many of those who claim to care for the environment only do so as long as it doesn’t cost them any time, money or effort, of course.
Here, the newspapers have taken to checking out stores that have significant stocks of conventional light bulbs and asking people who are seen buying large quantities of them what makes them do this. By far the most common response has to do with price, a CFL being four to 25 times more expensive than a conventional light bulb. It should also last five to 20 times as much, and if you add that to the savings generated by the significantly lower power consumption you’ll see that it should pay for itself many times over, but people don’t think like that. Admittedly, another complaint some people had was that they tried to use CFLs before and they burned out about as fast as the conventional ones, if not faster. The newspapers point out that the two most common causes for that are the frequent power fluctuations, to which CFLs are quite vulnerable, and the fact that people are looking for the cheapest possible CFLs, which should also be expected to be of the lowest possible quality. People are also unhappy because, due to the mercury content, they won’t be able to just throw them in the trash once they burn out. Finally, there is a general dissatisfaction with the cool light that most people think all CFLs emit, though this concerns them less than the other three issues.
I believe it should already be quite clear that price shouldn’t be a concern. Not that cost should matter when it comes to protecting the environment anyway, but in this case CFLs really aren’t more expensive than conventional light bulbs if you take everything into account. Of course, certain conditions must be met in order for that to be true, conditions which allow a CFL to last as long as it should. Improving the reliability of the power grid would help everything that uses electricity, so the main problem is not that CFLs are vulnerable to power fluctuations, but that those fluctuations happen so frequently. Using CFLs properly will also greatly prolong their lifespan, and that means not turning them on or off after less than ten minutes and keeping them out of closed fixtures and humid environments, among other things. It’d also help a lot if people would put more emphasis on quality instead of price when determining what to buy. Those who are worried about the mercury content should look for the best quality even more, since the best CFLs can contain as little as one milligram, while some of the cheaper ones can contain more than six. It can be argued that, depending on the method used to generate that electricity, the lower consumption of a CFL can prevent more mercury from being released than it itself contains, but something that makes people refrain from just dumping something in the trash can’t exactly be bad anyway, not even when we’re talking about fear. Yes, there’s certainly a very long way to go before we’ll have a passable recycling infrastructure, but that only means we need to work on that infrastructure… As for the final complaint, there are certainly CFLs that emit warm light…
All in all, I don’t think anyone needed more evidence in favor of the idea that most people can’t be gently persuaded to do something good for the environment, but there it is nevertheless. If they even resist a measure that, given time, will also save them money, what could you expect for the others? But these measures are sorely needed… They’re too little and too late, actually, but they are tiny steps in the right direction and I just hope we’ll pick up the pace soon enough.
People must be made to use less, reuse more and recycle the rest, because information and persuasion are obviously not working. Then they must also be made to repair the damage already caused, but that’s a somewhat different story. And, of course, the most important thing is to make them breed far less, and perhaps also desire shorter, though certainly far healthier, lives.
I keep struggling to write in this blog, but for how long? I’ve been thinking of at least taking a break since last year, but somehow manage to keep writing something every week. I know a break will most likely become permanent, so that’s keeping me from taking it, but this doesn’t seem to be going anywhere anyway…
Maybe it’ll work a little better next week at least? Have a few posts in mind, as usual, and two that I actually meant to write this week. Maybe I’ll be able to get to it… If not… It’s not like there’s any point in anything anyway.
“The night is dark and full of terrors.” Unfortunately for me, it’s good that it’s dark but not even that helps anymore… The terrors are my own…
Found myself thinking that a couple of nights ago, while once again tossing and turning and being unable to sleep, my thoughts going where they always go…
I seem to keep writing on Thursdays lately, don’t I? It’s usually the day when I realize I can’t delay posting something any further and have to come up with something, because I still never feel like writing… At least this time I actually have things to say, though they’re only personal matters.
Went to the dentist on Tuesday, said I think the problem is with the tooth that’s next to the canine, but she looked around that area and said she can’t see any cavities. There was a lot of tartar, which she said was what I was seeing where I thought there was a cavity, but nothing else, so she sent me to have it x-rayed to see if that would reveal anything. Her assistant asked which tooth, she said 34 and I started counting teeth with my tongue because something seemed out of place. But I was given the piece of paper and sent on my way before I could be sure that there was a mistake.
Once back home, I looked at the paper and saw that 34 was, obviously, the fourth lower left tooth, counting from the center. In that case, I was talking about 32! Looked up the numbering system too, just to be sure.
I went to have the x-ray done yesterday and found the place completely empty, though someone else came in right after me. (The other place, where they sent me two years ago, was packed full.) Dad explained that I wanted it done for 32, not 34, and asked if they could catch both of them, but the clerk said they can’t catch three teeth well on film, since the canine was in between them as well, just two, so it’ll either have to be two separate ones or just have it done for 32. I said just 32 then. I wasn’t completely sure that the problem was at that tooth, but knew it was not at the other one.
Next problem came from the fact that there were just two people operating the equipment and they wanted to take both me and the other person at once, so neither would be kept waiting. They separated and I was apparently left with the assistant, because she went out and asked the other what settings to use. That didn’t seem to work out well, because ten minutes later we were both called back and told they had to repeat the procedure (free of charge, of course) because it didn’t turn out well the first time.
This time it was both of them for each of us and, at least in my case, the one who seemed more skilled actually remained in the room and held that arm to make sure it stayed exactly where it should, didn’t get out as they usually do in order to avoid getting irradiated each time. So I didn’t escape having two x-rays done after all…
Once all of that was over and I got to look at the film, I saw that it was centered on the one I asked for but also included two other front teeth on its right and the canine and half of 34 on its left. So if it’d have been centered on the canine it could have caught 32 and 34 just fine. I didn’t see anything wrong with 32 though, but the canine seemed to have a small problem.
So today I went back to the dentist. Showed the x-ray, explained why it showed a different tooth than the one she had asked for and she said it should have caught both of them. I said I thought so too, but they said they couldn’t do that, though the end result certainly seems to prove them wrong. Also mentioned that I had it done twice because I was told it didn’t turn out well the first time. The dentist said it didn’t turn out well this time either, but it’s good enough to see where the problem is. It was on the canine, just like I also thought after looking at it.
So she cleaned up that tooth, saying it was a very small and hard to reach cavity, but that it was close to the base so that’s why I could feel it already. Then she meant to put in the filling, but couldn’t do it due to the bleeding. My gums are in a sorry state, so that’s what happens all the time. It stops quickly enough, but it restarts as soon as they’re touched again, so she couldn’t finish the work on that tooth and moved on to removing the tartar from my bottom teeth.
That was the hard part. Not as bad as two years ago, but quite unpleasant to say the least. There was a lot of blood too, but there had been a lot of that from the beginning anyway. She showed me some of the things she was putting in my mouth to clean up and I’m quite surprised that I didn’t taste it, because it sure looked like my mouth was full of blood. Some dripped out too, likely being washed out, made it through the piece of cloth they put on me and even resulted in a stain on my clothing.
So now I should try the same treatment I tried two years ago, for the same reason, and go back next Thursday, when she hopes she’ll be able to put in that filling and then also take care of my upper teeth. Was told to expect pain if I’ll eat or drink anything either hot or cold for the next two weeks or so, but I knew that already. Been through this before after all, two years ago.
As for the dead cat… While walking back from having that x-ray done, I was pointing out the recycling bins that have appeared relatively nearby some months ago, as part of my ongoing attempt to convince dad to recycle. So I said “over there is where you should drop electronics, over there’s the place for paper, over there’s the place for plastic” and then I noticed something lying on the road, turned to get a better look and continued the phrase with “and over there’s a cat run over by a car”. Poor thing… I just hope it died immediately at least. But I can’t figure out how did it happen right there, because it’s quite impossible to drive with any significant speed in that place…
What I did this week will probably seem little to any “normal” person who also works or goes to school, but it’s not something I care to do again, even if all but one of the things I did were my own choice.
Dad decided to tell me what news he needs me to look for this month on Wednesday, two days before the apparent deadline, so Thursday and Friday were more or less reserved for that. It was quite lucky that Greenpeace gave me the opportunity to write this week’s first post quickly, so I could have that done during those days as well.
Otherwise, I started the third book from A Song of Ice and Fire on Monday, so I had a daily “schedule” of reading as well and I certainly meant to stick to it no matter what else I had to do. There were also a few matches to watch, the race as well, plus that I meant to do a few more things in Two Worlds too… Plus that I still keep my word and get out of the house once per week, which this week ended up being on Saturday, therefore wasting alone time because my parents were away for several hours that day.
And then I requested a “WTF report” from Alina on OkCupid too, so yesterday I found myself looking through 738 questions where our answers didn’t match. Taking the importance into account, four questions were listed as being worth as much as all the other 734 put together, but I looked through all of them anyway and then also wrote clarifications about some of my answers and questions about some of hers in a file, which I later sent her. That took quite a few hours, but I wanted to do something like this before as well, for the other three people whose answers I looked through, but I never did until now. When I asked her if she’d believe that I was doing something like that, she said she’d certainly believe it of me, but of nobody else she knows. Anyway, that left me struggling to reach the page I meant to reach in the book, barely managing to do so around 4:30 AM last night.
But now, once I’ll post this, everything I planned to do, and had to do, this week will be done. I don’t feel like I have achieved something, I just feel tired and annoyed… Not to mention that dad keeps talking loudly or making other noises and waking me up several times whenever I want to sleep and my back decided to start hurting again today.
Greenpeace is asking people to spread the word about a clarification they made regarding certain accusations. They’re also making the usual request to tag the posts with “greenpeacebuzz”, but just writing the word will have to do because I’m certainly not planning to use tags.
The accusation seems to be that they have exaggerated the impact of climate change on the Arctic by saying that Arctic ice could be gone during the summer by 2030, when in fact only the sea ice could be completely gone by then. Their explanation seems fair enough, as the term “ice cap” and its variants are generally used in reference to the ice floating on water, but it’s still a bad move to allow others to find such errors in your statements. It would be wise for them to start being more specific from now on, because there are plenty of people who are going to attack anyone who’s fighting for the environment even when they don’t have a justification for their attack, so even more so when they can actually find something to pick on.
That said, one could say that this particular accusation could be somewhat justified, so the clarification can only help. Not that scaring people when it comes to the environment is a bad thing; most don’t seem to listen to reason, or at least not enough to do something about it, so other means certainly have to be used, but we should be careful not to offer anyone weapons against us, at least not before we also have the means to silence them.
