Last night Sweetheart Vivienne and I enjoyed an extra hour of sleep. Because at 2 a.m. today, daylight saving ended in Tasmania [1]. To mark this auspicious occasion, the Tasmania Fire Service [TFS] and battery maker Duracell teamed up for a campaign urging all Tasmanians to ‘Change Your Clock, Change Your Smoke Alarm Battery’ [2]. CYC aims to ensure all smoke alarms are kept in working order. It’s message’s promoted via print media, radio and TV advertisements; and on the web [3, 4]. Also in-store promotions in supermarkets and hardware outlets ‘to promote the campaign where Duracell batteries are sold’.
Smoke alarms are important – nay, vital – little gizmos. They literally save lives [5]. So making sure they work’s a no-brainer. So, as a volunteer firefighter and citizen and doctor, I’m in favour of CYC. But I have a couple of caveats: First, changing smoke alarm batteries annually means a very large number of batteries are discarded before the end of their useful life. In this regard, when smoke alarm batteries run low there’s a warning tone; and batteries are a waste disposal problem [6]. Second, I’m bothered by a private sector corporation (i.e. Duracell) entering into a financial arrangement with a public body (i.e. TFS). I know I’m old-fashioned, yesterday’s man, a sheep man in cattle country etc. And I can’t point to a practical downside to the CYC arrangement. I just think it’s wrong. In principle. That’s all. Ho hum.
