Light Bulbs

I was in Wal-Mart last night buying a few miscellaneous items, one of which was a package of light bulbs. I noticed, to my great irritation, that there were now two kinds of 'green' bulbs. There were the expected shelves full of the icky-gaudy-bright swirly monstrosities, of course, but tonight there was something new, at least to me: under-watted bulbs.

That's right. In an attempt to be 'green' and save energy, the 60-watt bulbs were now only 52 watts, the 75-watt bulbs were now only 67 watts, and so on. There was no commensurate price decrease, just the power.

Come on, let's think about this, shall we? Is it really going to matter that much to the fate of the planet if we shave off 10-15% of the wattage in our light bulbs? It doesn't seem to make a damn bit of difference if half the planet keeps their lights completely off for an hour in solidarity, but those few precious watts should apparently make up a whole lotta preservation.

On the other hand, shaving off 10-15% of the light in my house is noticeable, and it does make a difference in the quality and amount of light in my home. Hello...we're living in the flipping 21st century, not the (literal) dark ages!!!

This, then, is the kind of every day stupid sacrifice that the environmentalist wackos are demanding of us - reduce our quality of life in the name of a meaningless gesture. Oh, and it costs more, too.

I don't think so!

I arrived looking for a single package of 60-watt bulbs. I left carrying two packages of the extra-high-quality 75-watt bulbs. Next time I think I'll buy the 100-watts, just for good measure. You can never have too much good light.

There's my two cents.