WHEN British consumers are compelled to buy energy-efficient lightbulbs from 2012, they will save up to 5m tons of carbon dioxide a year from being pumped into the atmosphere. In China, however, a heavy environmental price is being paid for the production of “green” lightbulbs in cost-cutting factories.
Large numbers of Chinese workers have been poisoned by mercury, which forms part of the compact fluorescent lightbulbs. A surge in foreign demand, set off by a European Union directive making these bulbs compulsory within three years, has also led to the reopening of mercury mines that have ruined the environment.
Doctors, regulators, lawyers and courts in China – which supplies two thirds of the compact fluorescent bulbs sold in Britain – are increasingly alert to the potential impacts on public health of an industry that promotes itself as a friend of the earth but depends on highly toxic mercury.
Making the bulbs requires workers to handle mercury in either solid or liquid form because a small amount of the metal is put into each bulb to start the chemical reaction that creates light…
Isn’t green wonderful?
I remember when we had a mercury scare in the 60’s. That was when they realized how mercury was not a good thing in the environment. That was not a result of environmentalism but from testing and observations.
Now we are all set to put a thousand times more mercury into our environment. Simple thinking would say, hey, if it is not safe to mix mercury with humans and their environment, why don’t make things with mercury if you do not have to!
Simple, obvious and based on factual studies. Well, the green idiots have decided for us that saving a few cents of electricity is worth contaminating our environment.
Just remember when we have an outbreak of mercury poisoning in the US and Britain that we have the “greenies” to thank. Remember this too, they will never accept any responsibilty for anything that they cause!
It doesn’t make any sense because the environmental issue has nothing to do with the environment. “Going green” is nothing more than a hoax being used to achieve leftist goals. All of the so-called green laws will not help a thing. When California went green, they didn’t decrease any use of energy demands coming from so-called polluting suppliers. They just import the energy from surrounding states now. The same amount of CO2 is still being released into the air, it’s just displaced to neighboring states. Once California’s laws become nationwide (since the libs want California to set the guidelines the libs will impose on every state), we will have to import massive amounts of energy (just like oil). The global output of CO2 will not go down. The environmentalists claim they care about the environment, but what they actually mean is “not in my back yard”.