by Hanh Pham

I helped give out thousands of free CFLs for an Earth Day celebration last week. While most people were gracious and appreciative of the gift, a number of them asked where to dispose of the bulbs once they were burned out. Luckily, that’s not too hard any more to find a place to recycle them, especially in a large city – I told them to go to the household hazardous waste facility (to find your nearest CFL recycling station, go to www.Earth 911.com).

Some people weren’t as . . . receptive. One man flat out declined the free bulb. When he learned that the CFLs contain mercury, he raised his hand to cover my face and walked away. I was shocked and a little hurt. I wanted to explain to him that the bulb has only 5 mg of mercury in it as opposed to 500 mg of mercury that thermometers used to have (and people would put these in their mouths!). While it is important to dispose of broken bulbs properly, the 5 mg of mercury from a broken bulb is miniscule compared to the impact of coal-fired power plants that night otherwise supply that electricity (coal-fired power plants produce 33% of human-caused sources of mercury) I wanted to tell him that mercury is in the tuna we eat, the water we drink, and air we breathe…

I wanted to explain that CFLs aren’t the be-all end-all; they’re just an intermediary until technology offers a better solution. I bet my money that this technology will be Light-Emitting Diode (LED) light bulbs. While the prices are a bit high for residential use right now, but I think that will change pretty soon. According to the US Department of Energy, the estimated lifetime of LED light bulbs is 35,000 – 50,000 hours compared to 8,000 to 10,000 hours for CFLs and 750 to 2,000 hours for incandescent bulbs.

But alas – he was gone before I even opened my mouth. I guess there will always be naysayers to those who are trying to make a positive impact. It is much easier to be fixed on negativity, looking for a one-size-fits-all solution to our environmental problems. There isn’t one magical potion to ward off the affects of climate change. It’s going to take many solutions presented in many ways to inspire change. Perhaps our greatest collective challenge is maintaining a positive attitude and persevering to stay on course.

In case you find yourself with a broken CFL, go here to find out what to do.