yes.....i would feel really good if i could use energy savings light bulbs to light-up my whole house. in fact a contented smile would be permanently etched on my face if i recycle each and every aluminium cans, plastic bags, bottles, papers and even dispose each type of rubbish separately in my rubbish bin. but that will be in another post another day. for now i want to talk about energy saving light bulbs (eslb)
i've counted there are at least 9 light points in my house that i could switch from the normal bulbs to eslb. 9? not many....well it's a small house. and at any one time i would have between 4 to 5 on. anyway 9 points = 9 eslbs. sounds simple enough. so.......
so i did switch 3 to eslb about a year ago. i thought since they cost like 6 times more than the usual bulbs, they would also last 6 times more but alas, they don't. which is still okay cause nothing was ever said that they would last 6 times longer. the feeling was really nice. different than the usual orange coloured atmosphere i've gotten used to since i was a child. but most of all it was a feeling of independent and liberalisation - i did it and no one can say no to it especially my parents who by the way always would say 'no' or 'no need' to anything i wanted to do before....hee hee hee
the rest of the lighting i left as it was - fluorescent - which i like too cause with a single long bulb the whole area in that house would be lighted as if it was day. besides fluorescent is not as bad as the orange bulb, is it?
so i was enjoying being the new conservationist. however my excitement was cut short......boo hoo hoo. the eslb began to get blown/fused/rendered unusable one after another, well at least at that point 2 of them and i'm now left with only one still illuminating my bedroom. i thought, oh well i can just get 2 more to replace the blown-out ones? well........
i totally forgot that each bulb cost so much more that when i was finally at the store to get the replacements, i only realised "wow, i can't afford them anymore now". not that the price has increased since i bought them last but my income now simply does not permit me to spend that much on these light bulbs anymore.....
it is not my fault......
that is just how my financial situation is - sometimes up, most times the same and at times really down.....
so here i was in the store isle, holding the eslb with my mind wandering far thinking, "if i (i dare say - an income earner like many average Malaysians, who has the conscience to be a good planet saving person) am thinking more than twice to buy an energy saving light bulb,
what does that say about the bulb existence in the society price-wise and my ability to purchase it without affecting my livelihood for other more necessary things?
who are the people who can really afford this item in life that to me seems more a luxury than need?
how can the campaign to save the planet be followed by people like me if to jump on the bandwagon would mean sacrificing some things in life that are more needed?
when if ever in my life now can i really get to buy this bulb, feel good about buying it, use it without feeling the guilt?
thus permanently etch a smile on my face even when i sleep........
do i have to work extra hard just to be able to buy energy saving light bulbs?
