Light a Blue Bulb for Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, September 2011

Submitted by Matt on Thu, 2011-08-25 23:06

From malecare.org:

This year, let’s take prostate cancer awareness building into our own hands. Light a Blue Bulb every night (or, for a few nights) during September.

Too often, we look to nonprofits, government agencies and corporations to lead our advocacy efforts…and, sometimes, we are deeply disappointed. This year, our national prostate cancer nonprofit, Malecare, asks us to take personal responsibility and build advocacy from the grass roots, up. So, please do the simple task of getting a blue bulb and lighting it where your neighbors might see it. Get ready for your neighbors to ask you, “why the blue bulb?” Proudly express your desire that all men and women become more aware about prostate cancer.

Get a blue bulb at your local hardware store or online at homedepot.com or amazon.com or dig one out from your party box. Set it in your porch light or a lamp by a window. And, simply, light it for a few hours, or all night.

Post your thoughts at http://malecare.org/blue. Did you use Prostate Cancer Awareness Month to remember someone whom you have lost? We would be honored to publish a paragraph about the person you cared about, and, you can even upload a photo. Perhaps a photo of the person you wish were still here, or of you, by your blue light bulb.

If in the moment that you screw in a blue light bulb, you think to yourself, “I ought to make a doctor’s appointment,” then Prostate Cancer Awareness Month has done its job. We need to say to ourselves, “we are worth taking care of, that our lives are worthy of health and happiness, that I will commit to asking my doctor what tests I need to stay alive.”

Thanks for honoring us, all, by supporting Prostate Cancer Awareness Month.

Please feel encouraged to email any questions or comments to me at darryl@malecare.org

Darryl
Darryl Mitteldorf, LCSW
Director
Malecare Cancer Support

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Comments

While I support the campaign, the design of the campaign shows a surprising insensitivity to ecological issues. Do the people who designed this campaign know about climate change? Why are they encouraging the excessive use of energy? At the very least they should change the campaign so that the blue light replaces a white or yellow light that you would have on anyway, for example on your front door. I appreciate blue is for boys, and men too, I guess. But isn't there another way we could publicize the need for more prostate cancer support without consuming excessive energy?

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Submitted by redwoodwriter on Sat, 2011-08-27 01:47

Wear a blue ribbon to work or anywhere else in public and when someone asks you why you are wearing it educate them about the unequal funding for prostate cancer research as opposed to breast cancer research. Also, the death rates are almost identical.

I have no problems buying a 25 watt blue bulb and using it to support prostate cancer research. To hell with global warming!

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Submitted by Luek on Sat, 2011-08-27 04:52

There are blue lights available at places like Home Depot in CFL and sometimes LED even, which would use little power and give of a lovely blue light for prostate cancer awareness.

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Submitted by mens_issues on Sat, 2011-08-27 21:34

Climate change is a theory, nothing more. All the evidence to support it is very much like feminist evidence to support patriarchy theory, circumstantial at best. You should note that it is no longer called global warming because studies have shown the earth is generally cooling down. I don't know how many time someone tries to tell me "this is the hottest it's been since 1943, proof of global warming", to which the obvious response is, what was the excuse in 1943? Don't get me wrong, pollution and resource management are still issues that need acknowledgement, but lighting a lightbulb for men's health isn't going to kill the planet, and is far less harmful to our environment then the annual earth day, when people shut off their lights and instead, burn candles (often oil based, as if oil is more plentiful then energy), or use devices, and the toxic batteries that power them.

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Submitted by Kratch on Sun, 2011-08-28 03:08

I'm on my way to Home Depot this afternoon. I'll be looking for the lights in my neighborhood.

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Submitted by Arty on Sun, 2011-08-28 14:32

Okay, after stating the over obvious, just let me say that I'm not concerned about antropogenic (man made) global warming from a few blue light bulbs, given how many pink light bulbs have been burned by our government(s) to promote awareness about women's breast cancer.
California State Capitol Bathed in Pink - Again

That being said, I will try to find a blue compact florescent light, because saving energy is a positive enough motivation all by itself.

However, safe storage of a compact florescent is problematic, because if it breaks, it emits a small amount of mercury, which is environmentally hazardous.

LED's are the most economical, but hard to find in blue and very expensive.

I'm going to try to find the lights at OSH.

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Submitted by MR on Sun, 2011-08-28 23:11

This afternoon, I paid $6.99 + tax for a compact florescent light bulb at OSH (Orchard Supply Hardware) in Los Angeles County. Here's a photo I shot this evening after cleaning my front porch fixture and installing the new light bulb. It may be the first time this century that the fixture was cleaned.

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Submitted by MR on Mon, 2011-08-29 02:57