Lights out

Los Angeles is one city that one rarely associates with any greenitude. Eco warriors are rare here. Humvees and other low-MPG SUVs or trucks rule the roads. Suggest to an Angeleno that he/she *could* take the bus, and get a nasty look in return. There's a certain disdain of choosing not to drive. I sometimes wonder if it's an issue of pride: one who chooses the bus is too poor to own a deluxe car.

So it's a rare and important occasion that lightsoutla.org exists at all. No, I exaggerate. There are many concerned for the environment in LA; their voices just get lost under the sound of roaring traffic.

I wish it success, but I can't help but wonder if the message has been received by all. In my neighbourhood alone (in eco-conscious Santa Monca), there are apartments, houses and buildings that leave a security light on all night. Some offices also leave all their interior lights on (actually, there are only a few offending businesses that do so, and I suspect it's for the janitors to do their work). So, this evening, I'll be walking my dog between 8 and 9pm to prevent myself from being tempted to go online (it's a heavy energy user after all). And I'll bring my little camera out to photography any naughty offices that have not made the effort on a Saturday night (when few work in this media-heavy neighbourhood).

Apologies for any typos. I've tried to touch-type by the light of my monitor. One hour's not enough. I'll be attempting 7pm to midnight, apart from maybe having the gas oven on for 20-30 min to cook dinner (lack of planning here; could have had a salad if only I hadn't been defrosting some stuff all day). I know it's not nearly enough, but perhaps I could repeat this.

Update: As expected, during our walk around the neighbourhood, the dog and I found things were the same as usual. All the small businesses had their lights off, and all the large ones had some lights on apart from Sony BMG. Which means Lights Out LA had little to no impact in my part of Santa Monica. I hope it was more successful elsewhere.