best off

We all seem to have our bugbears with regard to consumerism and capitalism. I've been inspired to have a wee rant about mine after Maff revealed his disdain for carrier bag addicts and the Bro voiced his disdain for corporate fatcats.

Electric lighting. Very useful, I'm sure we'd all agree. However, useful does not equate to essential or default. So why is it, then, that virtually every household I visit are under the illusion that lights, once on, are un-turn-off-able?

Most people I know talk a good game about caring for the environment. (I don't doubt them, either. And I'm aware we're all riddled with contradictions. I, for instance, use more than my fair share of water but still have this incredibly strong principle about power wastage. But rants, as is tradition, ignore such hypocrasies, so let the tirade continue...) Yet, despite their vocal intentions, they seem to think leaving lights on all night, or TV's, or radios, etc, is perfectly OK.

When there is an excuse, it's usually "I'm going back in there in a minute".

SO?! Will it really take that much energy (your energy, not the planets) to flick the switch back on?

More often than not though, there's no excuse and its just plain selfish laziness that prevents said power-draining planet killer from being turned off. People just leave a room and turning off the light doesn't even cross their mind. It really is incredibly selfish. There's no way you can justify such wanton waste, such blinkered consumption. However many joules it takes for you to move your finger and flick the switch is infintessimally smaller than however many kilowatts of power it takes to sustain the illumination of the room you're not occupying. And if you think it's too much effort, or you 'like a room to be light when you enter it', then you have a hugely inflated sense of self-importance.

Like I mentioned earlier, there's a sense that it's just default that lights are left on, that there's not even a problem there. It's a bit like drinking and smoking - many people are barely aware that they are drugs as it's so socially acceptable. I feel like shaking such head-in-the-sand drinkers, smokers and power wasters and shouting, "WAKE UP!!"

Power comes from the consumption of precious resources which in turn pollutes the environment. It's not just there, like magic.

"leaving a light on doesn't use that much power, surely!"

It uses more than fucking nothing, and thats what a light uses when its switched off. Switching off lights must be the single most simple way a 'talks the talk' environmentalist can start walking the walk. Right?

John, I challenge you to find a stat about how much power would be saved if everyone in the country turned thier lights off. I tried, but my stat radar isn't as honed as yours. Also, is there any truth in that old statement that turning a light on/off uses more power than leaving it on all night?

My final point relates to money. In that you can save it by saving power. Especially relevant if you live in a shared house. However, if it's this point that makes your ears prick up and becomes your primary motivation to save power then you're more lost in the consumerist/capitalist structure than this post assumed.