Time to turn Off the Christmas Lights

It is twelfth night, Christmas is over and it’s time to take the decorations down and turn off the Christmas lights. When the lights were turned on in December, in cities around the world, it was the cue to start shopping for all that stuff which we wrapped, gave to friends and family, which is now languishing looking for a home, on a shelf perhaps, in a cupboard, taken to a charity shop or, for those particularly useless presents, chucked in the bin. Now that it is time to switch off the Christmas lights, let us reflect.

As we start 2013, there are difficult challenges to solve. Climate change caused by excess emissions of carbon dioxide is high up on the list of priorities that need a resolution. The world has done nothing substantive in response. The current situation is a long drawn out discussion leading nowhere useful.  Today, marks a small step forward as the Christmas lights are turned off.

Christmas lights are a waste of energy and an unnecessary source of carbon dioxide emissions but when put up in the centre of a community perhaps also bring light and a little joy into people’s lives. The same cannot be said of private homes festooned with flashing lights looking like some sort of Christmas brothel for Santa’s elves. They often appears in pairs of houses where a competition seems to take place between neighbours to see who can make the most ‘impressive’ display ‒ and run up the biggest electricity bill. This is conspicuous consumption gone mad; exposing your passion for Christmas bling outside the privacy of your home is more likely to attract ridicule than admiration.

Let us accept a New Year resolution to make progress over the coming year; if nothing else to ban the annual display of Christmas lights until we have decarbonised the electricity supply.