Adventures in Greenless Oklahoma Part 1: It's Not Easy Being Green

Lately I have been striving to be more eco-friendly. And I have arrived at the conclusion that "the man" hates us helping the environment. I installed compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs for short) in our living room ceiling fans, but they are the small candelabra style... so the largest I could get were only 25 watt equivalents. Now when I'm in my living room after 6 PM, I feel like it's 1941 and I'm sitting in a London pub during a brown out waiting for a German air raid to end. Even with all six lights going - three on each fan, it's brutally dark.

These CFLs cost me approximately $8 each and will most likely save me about 11 cents over the next two years. Regardless of the bulb cost, I will spend much more at the hospital after breaking my neck from stepping on dog toys while walking through the living room at night. But lucky for me they now have a 40 watt equivalent (9 watt actual), yeah! These will put out enough light to be a little more than half as bright as the 60 watt bulbs I used to have. Plus they only cost $17 each, wow that's STUPENDOUS! No wait that's STUPID... yeah, that's what I meant. I guess some con artist said, "I've got a bright idea. Let's sell everything really high and then we'll convince them they're saving money..." Well at least the idea was bright, the bulbs sure aren't.

I will post more about my "Adventures in Greenless Oklahoma" again later. I quote the great late Kermit The Frog (Jim Henson) on this thought... "It's not easy being green."