I am much more aware of my carbon footprint than I used to be - and I hate waste. So that's why I turn off lights wherever I go if they aren't needed. Last week I turned off some lights in the Royal Society's building before I gave a talk there; last year I amazed a group of environmentalists by scrambling on the floor to turn off some lights in 10 Downing Street after a meeting; and I once stopped giving a talk at a conference until some lights had been turned off in the room!
Will this make a difference? Of course it will, but of course only a small one. However, the turning off of unnecessary lights seems to me to be symbolic of what we need to do - let's start with the easy things, that won't hurt us much, that actually save us money and that are completely within our own control. We will have to do more - much more - but if we can't even do this then we are going to have a tough time making the necessary changes to reduce carbon emissions by 80% by 2050.
So each time I enter the communal entrance of the building where the RSPB's London Office is situated I turn off some lights. However, I often find that someone has turned them on again a bit later in the day - and this war of the lights seems like a stalemate. I think I am outnumbered! I once followed a lady into the building who turned on the lights (that I had turned off a few minutes earlier as I went out for a coffee!) and said to her companion 'Someone keeps turning these lights off'. A few paces behind her I turned them off again and said 'Yes, it's me! I'm trying to do my bit to save the planet!'. She looked nonplussed but didn't hit me.
It takes a certain amount of nerve to go around being a light extinguisher - so I'd value your support. Will you join me and turn off the occasional light even if people think you are a little bonkers? Post a comment on this blog on whether you will join me and on how you get on - I'd like to think that I'm not alone. But maybe I am!
A love of the natural world demonstrates that a person is a cultured inhabitant of planet Earth.
Leaving lights on is always a pet hate of mine, and yes it is only a little, but every little helps. Farming in Australia years ago, and staying with a family, it was common practise not to run the water when brushing your teeth, and was drummed into people from a young age. This was probably more important than we perceived in the UK, because if your fresh water comes from rain collection off the roof of your house in the middle of nowhere in particular, every drop you save is going to help.
Talking of farming, how come the RSPB and farmers seem to be on different sides of the fence on many issues? Declining Farmland birds (or not)? Compulsory Set-aside options? I look forward to reading more of your blogs no doubt on such topics in the future.
Hilary J
No, you're not alone, Mark! But it sometimes seems as though people listen, but don't hear, if you see what I mean. Maybe if someone could get the script writers of soaps like Eastenders etc to include issues like this in their story line, more people would hear the message. Quite a few people are avid watchers of these programmes, and take them very seriously, but I don't know if the issues they include have ever been environmental ones. Worth a try, if you know anyone in 'the business?!!!