Comments on: Making Earth Day a Family Day Celebration

By: Rudy

Rudy — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 21:36:53 +0000

As someone who sells light bulbs for a living, I am less enthusiastic than most about compact fluorescent bulbs. This is due to the fact that the ones currently available contain significant amounts of mercury. If one of these bulbs should break inside of a person’s home, it could cause a challenging disposal situation. It is my belief that the technology should progress to a point at which the mercury levels are low or nonexistent before people changeover their entire homes. Another consideration is that as these bulbs burn out, they will most likely be thrown away as though they are normal rubbish and landfills will have incredibly high levels of mercury in their soil as a result.

By: crunchy domestic goddess

crunchy domestic goddess — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 23:09:03 +0000

Great question, Christine. I wrote a post about CFLs and the mercury concern a little while back on my personal blog – http://crunchydomesticgoddess.com/2008/03/01/green-tip-of-the-week-15-cfls-a-bright-idea/, but here’s a link directly from Treehugger that does a great job of explaining it – “Is Mercury from a Broken CFL Dangerous?” – http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/05/ask_treehugger_14.php . Hopefully this will help you feel better about using them.

By: Christine

Christine — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 21:25:51 +0000

Great ideas! We already do some of these, but I will incorporate more.

I must admit I’m a bit freaked about the mercury in twisty bulbs. We’ve used a few of them, but I am paranoid about the kids knocking over the lamps. Any insight?

By: Lois

Lois — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 19:28:40 +0000

I’d love for you to share a link to this post on my blog (http://www.goodiesformom.com) under my post “Share Your Thoughts for a Greener World”. We are having an Earth Day Celebration through 4/22 trying to help bring green to everyday people. This would be a great addition.

Lois