Stuart Hickox

This is a post about Stuart Hickox, who is running a non-profit organization in Ottawa called Project Porchlight / One Change. Basically, trying to get people to replace their regular light bulbs with the CFL variety.

He was recently interviewed on Newsworld about whether or not these bulbs cause UV radiation, which you can watch here. He handles himself quite well, and I couldn't take my eyes off him during the interview. He also (infrequently) writes a blog called Walden Cabin, which you can read here.

He and I met up a number of years ago when I was on the wane of my freelance journalism career, and he was just getting started -- by being published in both Reader's Digest and Macleans, the lucky son of a gun. We were both members of the Professional Writers Association of Canada for a while, and I think we were both running the Ottawa chapter for a very scant short time.

I've kind of lost touch with Stewie since I wound up moving to Toronto in '07. But he's gone onto some great success with Project Porchlight, which I'm quite envious of. How does he do it? I don't know. But I wish him all of the best, and hopefully I might be able to reconnect with him sometime -- if he has the time. I was thinking of getting more involved with volunteer work, and it would be cool to deliver light bulbs.

Speaking of which, I'm really digging those funky new light bulbs. I use them on a lamp I bought from IKEA this year in my living room and I figure I'm saving about $2 or $3 a month simply by using them, instead of the regular bulbs in my kitchen area. Cool stuff that this guy is doing, then. I hope he can keep up the good work.