I’d like to consider myself “conservation aware.” I lay no claim that I am a conservationist, nor even a very energy efficient user on the planet. However, I am aware. I am aware of many ways to cut back and still keep things running smooth so that things I do don’t waste ridiculous amounts of precious energy.

I could go on and list many ways on how you can become aware, but IÂ’m sure if youÂ’ve read, watched or listened to any bit of news in the last few days, youÂ’ve already been saturated with many tidbits. The thing that gets me most about this new conservation kick is the fact that it took a large-scale fuck-up to make people aware that the energy that flows through the lines overhead is indeed precious to our everyday lives.

Given the fact that Ontario cut back its overall usage by 25% on Monday and 20% on Tuesday, (as far as I can tell people didnÂ’t suffer) itÂ’s almost safe to say that people are indeed capable of conserving. But how long is it going to last for?

Many ad campaigns in the past have pleaded with the mass public to conserve energy. TheyÂ’ve, not really failed, but not really made headway either. ItÂ’s taken (pardon the pun) a massive shock effect to get people to take note. What these most people have failed to notice during past campaigns is the fact that weÂ’re selfish. Why am I going to run around and change all the light bulbs in my house to something more efficient when itÂ’s only going to save me 3 cents a month? ItÂ’s taken something of scale to make most of these people realize that the little bits do count. They just need to be added up. When the price of conserved energy is added up, itÂ’s about a million dollars that consumers arenÂ’t paying (not including the actual blackouts, but Monday and TuesdayÂ’s cut-backs).

I’ve always felt that these ad campaigns of past were wasted on the wrong targets. Although I have no qualms with their message, I feel that they should and must target businesses. I’m sure you’ve all driven down a street at night looking for an open place to eat. All you see is bright lights. “Is that one open?.. No… What about that one? No…” The lights are on, but no ones home. City bi-laws need to be created to prohibit outside sign and advertising lighting outside of business hours. If a store is closed, their lights should be off. If security in-store is an issue, I’d like to introduce you to a motion censor. Besides, isn’t it good for business to save a little bit of money?

Places like these are also the cause of insane amounts of light pollution. Most people walk around not realizing how much light pollution actually exists. Pollution is waste, wasted power shooting to the sky. This is a marking of inefficient usage of lights. I’ve heard many people state, since the incident, how beautiful the sky was at night or how bright the moon shone upon their back yard. It is a beautiful sight to behold and with proper lighting – lower powered, properly deflected – the darkness could return to the sky without the need of another blackout.

As for decorative lighting; wellÂ… IÂ’ll leave it for now only because I must sleep, but it needs reform too.

There are so many aspects of this that are making my head spin. And quite frankly, it’ll be in short time that I’m sick of hearing about it all. That’s why I’m getting this out now. I’ve done my part, as much as I can right now without hindering my (see, selfish) own needs. Hopefully everybody else can keep doing theirs. Just little things, like making my monitors turn off 5 minutes after I leave, and making my hard drives spin down. (Ok, geek talk… but you know, those power saving features that exist for a reason.) I’m going to enjoy the $1.75 I’ll save on my hydro bill for the outage and a few extra cents from the days to follow – and yeah, I do pay it.

little things: if everybody gave me a penny, i'd be rich