Nathan Exposed » Going Green for Earth Day, Part 1

Earth Day is this Sunday, and people are becoming increasingly more interested in ways to help with the environment.

I wrote a post last year about compact fluorescent bulbs, encouraging everyone to replace at least one bulb in their house with one. The response I got was mostly “Fluorescent lighting is unflattering to my face” or “It hurts my eyes”. Only one person said “Hey, that’s a great idea. I’m going to try that.”

What these responses showed is that there is still a huge stigma about fluorescent lighting. Throw out any stereotypes you have about it. These are not the same bulbs that they were 10 years ago.

Keep in mind, I’m not talking about the overhead lighting that’s commonly used in office buildings. I’m talking about the compact fluorescent bulbs that fit in your standard light fixtures. They don’t have any negative effect on your vision or your complexion. The light looks almost exactly the same, except it’s white instead of yellow-ish.

You won’t have any negative effects, I promise! In fact, we have several lamps in our house using them. Nobody has ever been able to tell the difference.

So if you want to make one small difference, buy a compact fluorescent bulb. I think they are supposed to last around 10 years. They quickly pay for themselves, and they use much less energy.

Home Depot is giving away 1 million CFL bulbs on Sunday, so see if your local store is participating and you could even get a free one!

I’ll follow-up this weekend with some really simple changes you can make in your daily life that will help the environment. They are easy and effective.

Fri, Apr 20, 2007 @ 10:22 pm | Filed in Life | Permalink

2 Comments

I remember the old fashioned Flourescent lighting in school and in the dentist’s office. They made peoples faces look green. Flourescent lights are much better now. As bulbs wear out, I replace them with flourescent.

Posted by DEL on Sun, Apr 22, 2007 @ 3:04 am

I do like the cfl bulbs. I snagged a bunch of these from Ikea last weekend.

Posted by jasontt33 on Mon, Apr 23, 2007 @ 12:14 pm