People should turn off their Christmas lights to “help save the planet” and show solidarity with flood victims in Spain, one Newstalk listener has urged. 

On Lunchtime Live, listeners weighed in on whether Christmas lights bring joy to people or are polluting the planet unnecessarily. 

One man, Jimmy, said he thinks we should demonstrate a small gesture to people suffering at the hands of climate crises by keeping our lights off.

“I was looking at all those terrible scenes from the floods in Spain, all the people who lost their life as well, homes destroyed, cars ruined, all that,” he said.

“I'm sure, you know, many people in Valencia and Spain are not worried about having Christmas trees or Christmas lights.

“So, I thought, you know, long-term, is there anything perhaps we could do to mitigate against the long-term impact of global warming?”

Christmas Lights and shoppers on Grafton Street Dublin. 15/11/2024 Photo: Leah Farrell/© RollingNews.ie

Jimmy said he thought one small gesture that’s “not going to cost us anything” is switching off Christmas lights.

“It's not a great imposition on anyone,” he said.

“It's not going to cost you anything – in fact, it might save you money on your electricity bill.

“It would be a way of starting a movement - switching off the lights and helping save the planet in the future.”

"Powerful affects"

Jimmy said we “don’t need Christmas lights all over the place”.

“We're getting all these sort of Government credits, and everybody's got the lights on everywhere at Christmas time,” he said.

“If everyone switched them off, then that's a powerful effect.”

A house covered in Christmas lights in the Artane area of Dublin, Ireland.

Another caller, Phil, said he thinks it’s no harm having Christmas lights on if it “makes people smile for just a couple of weeks”.

He said he thinks Jimmy has “lovely intentions” but that Christmas lights bring people “joy”.

“There's enough misery out there to,” he said.

Phil said he would be more likely to not use wrapping paper or bows for presents in order to approach sustainability around Christmas.

“Could you imagine the conversation with young kids? Saying, ‘Listen, guys, we're not turning on the Christmas tree lights this year, and we're not throwing out the lights outside’ - they'd be devastated,” he said.

“Even if you went to town, the town would have a completely different feel at Christmas if there was no Christmas lights up.”

Business gains

In Clonakilty, Christmas lights were turned on yesterday.

Clonakilty woman Una said the lights encourage people to get their Christmas shopping done and benefits the economy.

“We had about four or five thousand people in town last night, so listening to business this morning, they all very much gained from [the Christmas lights ceremony],” she said.

Pictured Projections light up the Custom House. 02/12/2023. Photo: Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ie

Also on the show, environmental journalist John Gibbons said he thinks Christmas has been “hijacked”.

He said he would encourage people to look at their gifting habits and think about if people are just giving “tat” for the sake of gifting.

Mr Gibbons said nowadays lights do not last the same amount of time and the plastic and chemicals from the disposal of lights causes the real environmental issues.

“We used to have a set of lights, and they were put in a box, and that box was put in the bottom of cupboard, and every Christmas that we one of the kids was sent down to this box, and we had to get the lights working,” he said.

“The point is, for most of my childhood, even into my probably late teens, that one set of Christmas lights was [it].”

Environmental issues

Mr Gibbons said nowadays lights don’t last the same amount of time and the plastic and chemicals from the disposal of lights causes the real environmental issues.

“It's more the excessive consumption, excessive production and excessive marketing, and the kind of marketing that puts pressure on parents, for example, to spend more money than they have,” he said.

Jimmy remained steadfast in his mission of no lights in his house this Christmas, despite telling listeners about his family’s complaints.

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Main image: Josie's Christmas Lights in Crumlin, 9/12/2023. Image: Josh Crosbie/Newstalk