Turn off (at least some) Christmas lights

In response to the Dec. 24 story "Bright idea fills a kettle," I think the 400,000 lights used for the Christmas display in Willmar provide us an excellent opportunity to observe one of the many contradictions of our culture.

How can celebrating a major holiday based on peace and goodwill to men while also supporting worthy causes be consistent with exaggerated displays of Christmas lights — which, no matter how efficient, contribute to global warming, both by attracting people from afar driving internal combustion engines and also by using precious energy to power the display?

The unintended outcomes of so many of our customs beg for change now that we have irrefutable evidence that global warming is causing harm to the people, many other forms of life and the ecosystem of the planet.

Why not start a new tradition of honoring all life on the planet by turning off unnecessary lights and appreciating the light of the stars, moon and the aurora borealis? If we need to ease into it, we could start by keeping our Christmas light displays off one day of this season, two days next season and on and on until the light of other worlds shines bright.

Change is inevitable. However, it seems our choice is to change our behavior by intentionally and intelligently examining and changing some of our customs to be more life-perpetuating or to continue blindly practicing customs that continue to change our climate and adversely alter life on the planet. Why not start with Christmas as the first holiday to explore the greening path?