Last One Out, Turn the Lights Back On

Well, in case you have been living in a cave (which seems to be the ultimate goal of some), you know that it is coming up on Earth Day. In a burst of goodwill, our school is having Green Week. Each day there is a different theme. Yesterday we were supposed to not produce trash, Monday we planted trees, and so on. Today is Light’s Out Day. Rooms that have windows are supposed to keep their lights off and in places like the hall where this is not possible, they have turned out all but one bank of lights.

Ok fine and good. I actually wash my water bottle out every day instead of using a new one. I recycle and so on. I think these are good ideas and that it just makes sense to do them.

I also think it is a good idea not to waste electricity and at my own house, I am always walking around turning lights out, both as a cost-saving measure as well as to not be wasteful.

But this is starting to go too far for me. First of all, I really have a visceral dislike of symbolic actions that make people feel virtuous. All these kids (and faculty, too) are feeling as if they are really doing something important by sitting in the dark during math class. I think that is just silly and question the long-term benefits that will come because of this. Will the kids change their habits? Probably not. Not to mention it gets in the way of doing work.

But here’s what really bugs me: here is a misanthropic undercurrent running through all of this. The message is that humans are bad for the earth and cause lots of problems. While this is undoubtedly true and we can do better, I don’t like that as a focus. Humanity has done some wonderful, wonderful things and we ought to celebrate them, not wallow in guilty self-abnegation.

Further, humanity has been struggling for thousands of years to come out of the elements, to make shelter and create amenities that would prolong and improve life. Turning our lights out just seems to go against the grand trajectory of the human endeavor.

Will we be the first generation in recent times to leave a less-developed, less-comfortable life to our children? A life in which simply having lights on in a classroom is considered morally suspect? Where virtue is defined as what our ancestors would have considered being uncivilized and unhygienic? And will we do it cheerfully and voluntarily, patting ourselves on the back and feeling virtuous about it?