According to BC Hydro, the longer the Canucks stay on the ice during the Stanley Cup playoffs, the more electricity B.C. will save.
I’m not making that up.
According to a spokesperson for BC Hydro, energy use across the province dropped during Canucks’ playoff games, apparently because so many people were glued to their TVs they weren’t doing anything else. The energy use during games five and six against Nashville was equivalent to turning off 13 million compact fluorescent light bulbs, a two per cent decline from normal activity.
During game seven against Chicago, it was equivalent to turning off 48 million light bulbs, a 3.6 per cent dip. I’ve ignored the NHL for years because my favourite players kept getting traded and I couldn’t be bothered keeping up. Montreal was always my favourite but I am watching the Canuck playoff games.
Now I can feel environmentally virtuous at the same time.
***
Lots of talk — and jokes — about the large numbers of callow youth elected as NDP members of Parliament.
The question is, who will serve us better, young whippersnappers or old farts?
As an older person (can women be geezers?) I naturally believe age brings wisdom. However, young’uns could argue that my generation, and the baby boomers we produced, are responsible for our current problems. They could say we got the good life, they get to pay for it. So why not let them have a go at governing? It’s their future. If you’re green on a job, age doesn’t necessarily make you a faster learner. Many heads are shaking over the election of Ruth Ellen Brosseau. The 27-year-old garnered 40 per cent of the vote in a francophone riding even though her French is shaky, she didn’t live there, and didn’t campaign. Question. What does this say about the candidates who opposed her?
Diana French is a freelance columnist for the Tribune. She is a former Tribune editor, retired teacher, historian, and book author.
