A case of compact fluorescent lights
By Obiora Embry
Published in November 2009 issue of North of Center
We are told that "green" is the new "thing," yet seldom do we go beyond "being green"—an action often limited to reducing our energy consumption—to arrive at a deeper consciousness of thinking, living, behaving, and doing or eco‐consciousness. For US to survive the problems that we humans have created, it will take more than simple‐minded actions or "being green" to undo our continued desecration, pillaging, and rape of Mother Earth.
In order to save ourselves before it’s too late, we the people will have to act with a purpose and an understanding of the sacred and symbiotic relationship between the human body and Mother Earth that we rely upon for our survival. We cannot switch from one evil to a lesser evil—from incandescent bulbs to compact fluorescent lights (CFLs), from a gasoline engine to a hybrid gas/electric engine, or from energy powered by coal to nuclear or hydrogen, etc.—and hope that our misguided actions will immediately restore our only home, Gaia, to a stasis or equilibrium that will continue to sustain humans, well rather subset of humans as we have been devolving since the Industrial Age. A government and media‐driven focus to perform simple‐minded actions that can be done in‐between commercial breaks, during a lull in a favorite TV show(s), or while pausing "live" TV is counterproductive to developing a deeper level of thinking or eco-consciousness. It goes beyond conserving electricity, recycling, and using "energy‐efficient" products.
We are foolish to think that we will be able to undo the damage before it’s too late for "humanity" to survive without having a clear and holistic plan. It’s past time for us humans to (re)think how we view the natural environment—including humans (each other) as we come from the Earth and are "walking rocks." To heal Mother Earth for our continued survival, we must change the way we live our lives, and this means that we need to become responsible for our actions and conscious of the effects our actions have on the air that we breathe, the water that we drink, and the land from which our food grows.
We need to become quantum thinkers that look at our bodies and the Earth as interconnected complex systems that have a positive and negative effect on each other. This way of thinking is far different from the classical thinking that has taught us that everything is separate, and as a byproduct has given rise to modern‐day specialists for the human body and specialized post K‐12 education programs. By emphasizing the inherent inter‐relatedness of the world’s human and natural systems, quantum thought and eco‐conscious thinking emphasize our need to assess the Life Cycle Analysis (manufacture/production, distribution, packaging, shelf life, use, and end‐of‐life) of the products that are being marketed as "green" or eco‐friendly.
Take for example, the "call to action" that encourages US to replace our incandescent bulbs with Compact Florescent Lights (CFLs) to conserve electricity as a means of "going green." This action was based on false pretenses as the material composition was downplayed, which I found out after I did some independent research. I discovered that CFLs contain a heavy metal, Mercury (Hg), which is a known neurotoxin, and possibly other heavy metals but its material composition is sketchy.
As a parent, I am concerned because children are often asked or told to persuade their parents, neighbors, and others to use CFLs, so we can reduce our energy consumption. However, too few of US know the health risks associated with Mercury, which can be exacerbated when children are involved because they sometimes do NOT wash their hands at appropriate times (i.e., after handling a CFL bulb).
As an engineer who has worked in manufacturing, I know that (almost) all current manufacturing processes create waste, either as a liquid, solid, or gas, and will eventually find its way into the water, the air, and soil. This means that Mercury (and any other heavy metals in CFLs) will bioaccumulate—have a higher concentration of a substance in an organism over time compared to the concentration found in the natural environment—through the production of Compact Florescent Lights. The bioaccumulation of Mercury can lead to the formation of methyl mercury, which can accumulate in small and large fish because of the micro‐organisms on the bottom of the food chain that metabolize metallic mercury. This increase in the concentration of Mercury in aquatic life is why we are cautioned in 41 states (as of 1999) against eating fish caught in public lakes, rivers, and creeks as the health effects include birth defects, central nervous system & kidney disorders, and/or death. But birds and other mammals that eat fish have not been warned about the hidden danger of eating the fish, which means we humans may inadvertently consume an animal (other than fish) that has an excess amount of Mercury in its body thereby causing someone to suffer from heavy metal poisoning. [For those interested in learning more about the health hazards associated with Mercury, read a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS).]
As a person that was raised to not think in the classical manner, I am fortunate to not have fallen prey to the hype generated by the media to replace Compact Florescent Lights with incandescent light bulbs, however, it’s too late to close "Pandora’s Box" as more than 300 million CFLs were purchased during 2007 in the United States. Compact Florescent Lights can be broken or cracked during transport (by children and adults), installation, or disposal, releasing Mercury into the atmosphere. This release poses the biggest health threat to humans because one 5 mg Hg CFL (they contain on average between 2.3‐5 mg Hg) increases the Mercury vapor in the air to between 8, 000 and 150, 000 nanograms/cubic meter, which is more than 40 times the safe exposure level established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). One CFL also has the potential to contaminate 6, 000 gallons of water beyond safe drinking levels. And the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that 670 million Mercury containing lights are sent to the landfill each year adding 2 to 4 tons of Mercury into the environment, which over time will bioaccumulate in our bodies causing damage to our bodies (see an MSDS for all of the health hazards).
However, what I have presented above on CFLs is only scratching the surface of its Life Cycle Analysis because I did not discuss the energy source used primarily in the U.S. (coal‐fired plants emit Mercury into the atmosphere) to turn that light on; nor the mining of the heavy metals to manufacture the light; nor the amount of petroleum used in its production, packaging, and transport; nor the amount and type of waste generated during its production; nor the health hazards to humans working in the factories to manufacture the light; nor all of the short and long term environmental effects that result from the production of CFLs.
The opening of "Pandora’s Box" that has resulted from our government and the media thinking classically and persuading US to switch from incandescent light bulbs to CFLs cannot be undone, not even if we were to immediately become quantum thinkers that are eco‐conscious. However, if we were to have thought holistically before the "call to action," then we would have looked at the interconnected systems that have created our environmental problems. And then we would have realized that the inherit flaws (designing against nature rather than with nature) in the design of our homes, workplaces, houses of worship, schools, communities, etc.; our continued reliance on fossil fuels and non‐renewable energy; continued mining of heavy metals; the material composition of our lighting; continued production of synthetic materials; poorly designed and wasteful manufacturing processes; desire to put profits above people; and our phantom money market system that hides the true costs of goods and services are as much a part of the problems as energy (over consumption).
As we begin to become eco‐conscious, we cannot solve problems one at a time unless we want to further desecrate the air, land, and water that sustain our existence, but rather we must look systematically at the good, the bad, and the short and long‐term effects that our present and future (eco‐friendly) actions have on our bodies and on our home, Mother Earth.