Solar lantern in the Agapanthus

One of the things we learned from the recent fire is how truly dark it can be outside when the power goes off. My dad who was far ahead of his time taught me the virtues of solar energy when he was able to power our whole house with solar panels twenty years ago. Unfortunately there are less options for renters although we keep trying. When we tried these small solar path lights a few years ago they did not last very long. But these days they have small LEDs in them so they last all night this time of year. So we replaced all of our landscape lighting with these and some nice spotlights on the plants. Next time the power goes out we'll at least be able to get around without falling over all our plants.

I'm sure it's wonderful for the environment too, but personally I'm not convinced that buying a bunch of stuff just to save energy is a terribly responsible thing to do unless the things you are replacing have outlived their usefulness and need to be replaced anyway. I'd rater telecommute and keep my old jeep that I drive about 10 miles a month, than buy an overpriced hybrid that had to be manufactured somewhere. Personally I think a large part of the current save-the-world movement is an excuse to make you feel good about buying things... eco-consumerism! Save the world with your credit card!