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CFL BULBS – AS THE BULB BREAKS THE FABLE WILL FALL

This winter, I realized I had a received one big snow job. However, this time it was not at the hands of my older brother but from all those “do-gooder” environmentalists.

See, I bought into the whole compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL) sell job. Our new house had a bunch of these energy efficient bulbs when we moved in and I naively went out and bought some more.

I had felt good about putting these new CFL bulbs up around the house and replacing the old, inefficient incandescent light bulbs. Annoyances like the fact that the light wasn’t as bright as the old ones or that they take a half second longer to turn on were sacrifices I was willing to make for the environment.

Doing so gave me that enviro-conscious, self-righteous swagger you get when you feel you are ahead of the unenlightened masses. You know, those non-believers, who have yet to fully appreciate how changing a light bulb can save the planet.

That is why I had resistance to ditching my CFL bulbs when my fear-mongering mother-in-law called. She explained to my wife these new light bulbs emit radiation and contain mercury.

I was able to convince my wife that her mom was overreacting about the radiation risk and I reassured her that it was important that we did our part in being green.

Later that night, I watched a story on the radiation risk from CFL bulbs on CBC’s The National.

The story confirmed the radiation risk, but only if you were in close proximity — 30 centimetres — to the fluorescent bulb.

What I found most surprising was the woman profiled in the story, who when told of the potential danger of CFL bulbs, decided to keep them anyway. According to her, the new bulb’s environmental benefit was of greater importance than a British study’s public health warning.

I must admit, my view was similar to hers, but to cover my bets and have peace with my mother-in-law, I decided to replace a couple of the CFL bulbs in reading lamps.

Sure enough, while replacing the green-conscious bulbs, one fell from my hand and broke onto the floor.

After sweeping it up and throwing it in the garbage, my wife said I should check the Internet for cleanup procedures.

Now I knew these bulbs contained a small amount of mercury, so I thought I might have to wipe the floor, too — but I had no idea that I just opened up a Pandora’s Box.

The cleaning procedures for these “toxic spills” vary greatly, from using a cloth to just short of having environmental cleanup crews come to your home.

On the one end is our provincial government’s Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure, which gives us these simple, no worry instructions: “Sweep up all of the glass fragments and phosphor powder — don’t vacuum and place in a plastic bag. Wipe the area with a damp paper towel to pick up stray shards of glass or fine particles, and place the used towel in the plastic bag as well.”

The Environmental Protection Agency in the U.S., however, suggests a much more rigorous cleanup.

According to its website — and I’m paraphrasing — after I broke the CFL bulb, I should have had everyone vacate the area, ventilated the room for a minimum of 15 minutes, shut off the ventilation system, scooped contents with cardboard and placed them in a glass jar, used sticky tape to pick up remaining fragments and powder, and wipe the area clean with a damp cloth that is disposed in the glass jar.

I wasn’t supposed to use a vacuum — or a broom for that matter — and any fabric such as clothing or bedding that came in contact with the broken glass or powder should not be washed, but thrown out.

Wow, what a great product. I’m so glad I brought these ticking time bombs into my family’s home.

Maybe I should see if I can run my vacuum cleaner on plutonium so I can save any strain on the energy grid.

Sarcasm aside, I know this was just one bulb that broke, but I think growing up my brother and I must have broken at least a couple of dozen old incandescent bulbs inside our parents’ house.

Now I have two little active boys in my house and there is no way I am leaving these toxic-cleanup-sites-in-waiting around for them to discover.

So I am off to the hardware store to buy a bunch of incandescent bulbs before our misguided government bans them.

First though, I will have to make sure that I dispose of the made-in-China “mercury bulbs” properly, too. Wouldn’t want to do any further damage to the environment outside my home.

If you want to reduce the problem of toxic mercury in the air then you should look to eliminate it at its source without bringing the problem into people’s homes.

Dropping that CFL bulb hopefully won’t cause any ill effects to my family, but it sure has got the snow out of my eyes.

I realized I had let my desire to be green and noble get in the way of seeing this snow job for what it is and not using my common sense.

Gregory Cawsey is a member of the Mercury’s Community Editorial Board. He can be reached at justcaws.com.

DO TEACHER UNIONS SUPPORT

PUBLIC EDUCATION?

There sure has been enough “union bashing” going on during this economic downturn. Unionized autoworkers seem to be taking the brunt of the abuse this time around. Many observers have credited the “bloated” workforce of GM and Chrysler with contributing to their demise. That point may be debatable, but it has got a lot more people talking about the merits of private sector unions in a competitive, global economy. Achieving great pay packages, improved working conditions and fantastic benefits don’t mean a whole lot if the company you work for closes shop because it can’t compete. As someone who became a teacher because of my passion and strong belief in the importance of public education, I have repeatedly questioned the role of entrenched teacher unions. Now as we move from the industrial to the information age, I fear the demise of Ontario’s own cherished public education system if major reforms are not made to the teaching profession.

Teaching the youth of Canada to be the leaders of tomorrow I believe is one of the most important jobs out there. It is why I wonder in disbelief, how can we continue to let the people who do this important work be paid the exact same with no consideration given to their ability?

Currently the salary of a unionized teacher is determined by two factors – seniority and level of education, with seniority having by far the greatest influence. Whether in fact you are any good at it doesn’t factor into the equation. There are evaluations given to teachers to be sure, but the union has watered down that process so much that these infrequent evaluations take place only with advance notice and offer a non-descript grading system such as satisfactory/unsatisfactory. Under the union, teachers are all equals and therefore an experienced teacher can’t formally evaluate another inexperienced union brother or sister. Performance appraisals are left to the short number of administrators that in too many cases have far fewer years of experience than the teachers they are trying to evaluate. Unfortunately previous educational reforms have made this more of a regular occurrence than it should be.

Former Ontario Premier Mike Harris threw administrators out of the union and into management. In doing so though he neglected to compensate this group well enough and left too much of the power within the schools in the hands of the union – protected teachers. It’s no wonder why Ontario’s public school system has trouble attracting their best teachers and school leaders to move up the ranks. Very few want to leave their comfy union confines to become over-worked and under appreciated school administrators.

Don’t get me wrong here. I am not in favour of dismantling the entire system. The teaching profession requires the need for greater legal protection that unions or associations provide. However, that need has come with far too many “improved working conditions” and inability to weed out poor teachers that has put our cherished public education system in danger. Don’t be fooled. What is good for teachers is not always good for public education. Twenty sick days might be great from the teacher’s perspective, but it is damaging to education.

To be fair, the unions have helped public education by fighting for good salaries and benefits that have lured talented individuals into the profession. Once in however, you will have to be incredibly, intrinsically motivated and wear blinders to avoid comparing yourself to and eventually becoming the lazy teacher down the hall that “does nothing” and gets paid the same amount as you.

The concept of merit pay has been floated before. It does have its drawbacks though if the criteria for how it is disbursed are not in line with improved teacher performance. Relying heavily on one measure such as test scores or leaving too much power in the hands of one principal won’t suffice. It will require all the stakeholders in public education, including the teacher unions to devise a fair system of teacher evaluation that can allow for performance pay and the removal of bad teachers that are a barrier to student learning. If the teacher unions will not come to the table on this issue or rally their members to continue the status quo then their true colours will have been shown. Public education will lose its relevance as a pillar of this province as fed up parents will choose vouchers and chartered schools for their children. Hopefully this scenario can be avoided with strong leadership on this issue.

It is why I am encouraged to hear U.S. President Obama, a Democrat, speak of merit pay through revising their teacher evaluation process as a way to improve the American public education system. He recognizes the enormous impact improved teacher performance can have on student success. Let’s hope for the sake of our treasured public education system an Ontario political figure will emerge that has the courage take on the special interest and create meaningful educational reform so that we can develop the best teachers to inspire our young people to be leaders in the new knowledge economy.

Gregory Cawsey is a teacher in Guelph and a member of the Guelph Mercury’s Community Editorial Board.