Proof of people out there as dumb as I'd feared

As you may already know, Utah Clean Energy and Governor Huntsman recently called for a one-hour “lights out” to take place on the evening of September 19th. Residents were asked to turn off all the lights in their homes between 9 and 10 p.m. Apparently, the goal was to raise awareness for wise energy use and to demonstrate the potential power (no pun intended) of collective energy conservation.

Well, Rocky Mountain Power was “unable to measure any reduction in energy use” that night. I’m sure that many people (including me, embarrassingly) simply weren’t aware of the request. (More likely, no change was detected because energy for lighting only accounts for 14 percent of Utah’s urban energy use and appliances, especially air conditioners and refrigerators, suck up the bulk of the rest.) But some people must have tried to “make a difference” and dimmed their lights on the 19th as a few darker pockets around the Salt Lake valley were noticed around 9 p.m. While these people genuinely want to help make a difference in their community, I think most people try to exude an image of conformity and political correctness when it comes to environmental issues, especially now that green ideas are becoming more mainstream. While some may actually have a basic understanding of global warming and energy crises, I believe that many people speak to environmental concerns to preserve their “trendy” image while inwardly balking at personal lifestyle changes, suspecting that these issues are all just a passing fad and climate change is some far-away abstract condition. It’s all about image, right? But I’m kind of digressing…

Then there’s people way out at the other end of the social spectrum actually working against the greater good. It appears that some people live in the world of fourth grade defiance and, to my great amusement and triumph, lay themselves bare while publicly bragging about their idiocy to the Salt Lake Tribune. Maybe the scales at Rocky Mountain Power were tipped partly because of this turd. Thank you, Mr. Christensen of Taylorsville, for validating my suspicions as to the ability of this community to think beyond its own front door.

…My son and I turned on all our outside lights around the house [on Sept. 19],
including all the headlights on the four gas-guzzling cars we have parked in our
driveway. We also turned on every light in the house, along with all the radios
and TVs.
I hope this will send a message to the governor and the rest of the
world – and to some of our liberal neighbors – that my family is not going to
believe nonsense and become a family of global-warming zealots….
…My family
is more than happy to unscrew any lights not working and screw in new ones
ourselves, then keep them all burning ‘till hell freezes over.

Um, nice pun. I’m so glad that he’s teaching his son these life lessons. I’m sure he’s also the type of father who blows cigarette smoke daily in his kids’ faces and then rants to the paper that HIS family has no need for silly healthcare.