“I’ve been a backpacker all my life,” says Jon Oxley, manager of the Students’ Union at the University of Lethbridge. His favourite recreational activity has always been tossing the bare essentials into a backpack and heading out in the wilderness, either by foot, bicycle or kayak.
So he’s very familiar with Alberta’s natural resources. And he’s sorry to say that, with each passing year, the glaciers in the province’s ice fields have been receding. “When I was a kid,” says Jon, who is nearly 50, “they predicted that the glaciers would be around for another 150 years. Now, they’re saying they’ll be gone by 2030. That’s how fast global warming has sped up.”
Statistics like that have made Jon conscious of his impact on the environment, and interested in finding ways to save energy. He’s been using CFLs for nearly two decades. “When I bought my house in 1989, I purchased one of the original compact fluorescents and installed it on my porch,” Jon says. “The same bulb is still on my porch, and it still works.”
A big fan of the energy-efficient bulbs, Jon was quick to sign up as a volunteer when Project Porchlight came to Lethbridge. In early April, he put on his walking shoes, loaded up a green bag and hiked around the neighbourhood, delivering free bulbs door-to-door. As he sees it, it’s important to let people know that switching to CFLs is a win-win situation: it will save them money and reduce greenhouse gasses. “All of these things do have major impact,” says Jon.
