It's beginning to look a lot like... hypocrisy

Earlier this summer I had the opportunity to meet a gentleman that my hometown had hired to create a Christmas spectacular for the Museum Square. Each year the Museum Square is decorated to look like a winter wonderland, and it draws many citizens downtown for a little Christmas spirit.

I guess this year the city felt like it needed a little updating and brought in this gentleman from Ottawa to produce a 15 ft. Christmas tree equipped with 56,000 light bulbs. It has generated a lot of excitement, but it has also confused many of those who have witnessed its splendor. I have had a number of residents coming into my place of work (it’s basically across the street from the Museum Square) complaining about the tree and its uselessness. I get a lot of the “ Its nice, but” type of remarks.

Like many other cities, Woodstock has motivated its citizens to “go-green”. Over the past year alone, we have introduced the new black boxes for recycling, and I can’t even explain how many times I’ve witnessed a local hydro company campaigning for the LED light bulbs.

Yes, the tree does use LED light bulbs, but at a whopping 56, 000 of them how much energy can you possibly be conserving? This tree remains on from dusk till dawn and plays a musical dance with the lights. I just don’t see this as the most environmentally friendly solution.

If the city wants its people to be more environmentally conscious, I don’t believe this was a smartest idea. It contradicts the messages they are trying to advocate, and is a bit hypocritical. Maybe a Paper-Mache nativity scene, made from recyclable paper would have gone over better?