Eating Florescent Lights

I have no idea if this dance competition video is real or simulated. I have regrets about sensationalizing it.  But what the heck.  It helps me make a point.  I admit, however, that I  have yet to watch the whole thing because I get queasy and close my laptop when an axe-like tool gets hammered into a dancer’s stomach (that should be enough of a teaser to get you to click the link!).

There is a dance move—I don’t know what else to call it—about a minute into the video when dancers eat florescent lights. Some of you may worry about the consequences to the dancer’s health from eating mercury (a toxin that damages, among other things, the brains and lungs of our children).

Florescent lights do contain trace amounts of mercury, but so does coal, which generates the electricity that powers our lights.

Even if no florescent lights were recycled and all their mercury were released into our environment, the total amount would still be less than the mercury put into our air by the additional coal-fired electricity needed to power our less efficient incandescent lights.

We can easily recycle florescent lights, dramatically reducing mercury emissions, saving money, promoting health, doing the right thing, ….  Or we play partisan politics.

All we need is the willpower to care.

About admin

R. Bruce Hull writes and teaches about building capacity in sustainability professionals who collaborate at the intersection of business, government, and civil society. The views are his and are not endorsed by any organization with which he is affiliated.
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