I remember my mother’s basement years ago, that single dangling light bulb that swung around and bopped everyone on the head. Gosh, that thing was old. Its indistinct buzzing made my teeth rattle. The heat emanating from that ancient glass sphere was enough to fry an egg. I bet it still hangs there, a relic too stubborn to change with the times.

Myself, I changed with the times. I bought a pack of LED bulbs from Wal-Mart after I watched a video about them. I can gladly say I’m happier with lower electricity bills and sparing myself that awful sound like electric wasps mating. Not only is there no sound; they don’t get that rank burnt dust smell, either. LED bulbs even look cooler. They’re brighter. Lighter weight. Am I praising these things? Why…I guess I am.

I have yet to change a lightbulb since switching to LED. I just realized this, and it’s been over a year. I twisted them snuggly into place, and that was it! All this time, and the bulbs still light up. Motel 6 must use LEDs.

I’ll never forget when I was in my late twenties and moved into a new apartment. That first visit, I explored every inch of the place. I remember walking into my bedroom closet and being utterly blown away by how tiny it was. And there, hidden above the opening, another of those hanging lightbulbs of the era was hiding. It was the fashion of the times. I tugged on the string; it worked like a charm. Minutes later, I returned with folded laundry, intent on organizing my bedroom drawers, but something was wrong.

That smell.

Something was burning. Panicked, I threw open the closet door. There it was: no longer a bright light but a dull orange buzzing atrocity.

Last year I made many changes, the least of which were the change to LED lightbulbs. The thing is, changes need to happen for us to have a richer life. Not big changes, necessarily, but little things. While others may decide to become experts in fitness or cooking, I decided to be teach myself environmentalism because of light bulbs.

Even though such a minor change was made, it not only changed my perspective on saving little bits of money every year, this started me down a path to become more nature focused. It’s like finding a Wikipedia article on Silver Surfer, then clicking your way down a rabbit hole until you realize you’ve clicked on Bob Dylan, wondering how you even arrived there in the first place!

As weeks pass, I find that I’ve learned new bits of information about the environment. And if it’s any encouragement at all, any new habit formed, any new interest in a topic, and any question asked about the said interest can lead to new and better changes.

Because of LED bulbs, I started recycling plastic bottles, reading books like “This Changes Everything” by Naomi Watts, and investing my time in environmental nonprofits like One Tree Planted. The changes are now rooted in my being; my steps have been directed another way, and it’s because I decided it was time to change my lightbulbs.