on light bulbs

I sent this off as a letter to the editor this morning. It's not much to start this old blog up again, but it is a start. Enjoy.

This morning I noticed that one of the bulbs in my bathroom light fixture was burnt out and I realized I would have to go buy at least ten of them to sustain me over the next years when incandescent bulbs become unavailable and before I am ready to throw away the entire light fixture and buy a new one. Will someone please save us from useless legislation? Politicians like to be seen to be doing something (anything) and so this time, they have decided to ban the incandescent light bulb for being energy inefficient. Who will object, they think. Anybody who says they want to keep the old bulbs will just be seen as a wastrel. But what about the waste of getting rid of all those light fixtures that cannot fit a compact fluorescent? Politicians, please let the market decide on this one. If you want to been seen to be doing something for the environment, ride a bicycle. I do.