one.point.zero - Colin O'Brien's weblog

Thanks to all the people who’ve been endlessly forwarding me an invitation to switch off the lights tomorrow for a few minutes before 8pm in order to “create global awareness of the climate and energy situation”. You can stop now, really.

If you want to act, switch the damn things off most of the time and use low-energy bulbs when you can’t. Don’t leave your TV on standby, don’t drive you car to the corner shop, take the heating down a notch, give up on flying halfway across the world just because you can.

You know the story, but you don’t want to hear it. It’s much easier to participate in some feel-good action than actually doing something. The problem with doing something being that you have to sacrifice some of that comfort you’ve gotten so used to.

Have a good answer ready when your kids ask you why you didn’t do anything even though you knew, because that question is coming.

It’s not about going back to the stone age, just making some adjustments. We’re all guilty of not doing enough, but let’s at least do something with a bit more impact than being in the dark for 5 minutes. Every time I get that email I’m reminded of a BMW X5 I recently saw sporting a Greenpeace sticker.