I drove past my neighbor’s house last night and the entire first floor was awash in this bright, white-bluish illumination that looked like something out of a bad horror flick.
Knowing that Halloween is right around the corner, I thought I’d give them the benefit of the doubt and write it off as a decoration. But no. It’s a byproduct of “going green” – a movement I won’t find myself joining anytime soon.
So flame away if you must, but let’s set the record straight:
- I don’t buy reusable bags for my visits to the supermarket and would choose paper over plastic if given the choice.
- I don’t have three separate bins for trash. All my garbage goes in one bag and is put out only once a week.
- I despise the new plastic water bottles made with “X% less plastic” that feel like they’re going to fall apart in your hands, so I specifically look for the bottles with “X% more plastic.”
- I wouldn’t push up my electric bill by paying a surcharge per kWh by choosing a “green” provider.
Now, back to the light.
I adore the warm glow of a 60 watt cool white incandescent and abhor everything about the horrible compact fluorescent (CFL) and LED bulbs the government is forcing us into by the year 2014. Last Christmas I stared in horror as outdoor decorations took on the bluish hue of LEDs and the tree in the corner of the living room looked sterile instead of inviting due to its new strands of eco friendly lights.
My neighbors are living in a world of unnatural light that’s painful on the eyes, unusually bright and strangely colored because we’ve been made to believe that the old incandescent bulb that has been lighting our lives for years is “bad.”
It’s an energy hog, but who cares?
I don’t want to wait 2 minutes for a CFL to come to “full brightness.”
I want to be able to dim lights that were designed to be dimmable.
I don’t want to pay $15 for a light bulb.
And most of all, I don’t want the government telling me what kind of light bulbs I have to use.