In Indre, the Collectif Rouge et Vert turns off store signs at night

They didn’t wait for the energy sobriety plan
of the government unveiled this Thursday, October 6. In Indre, a dozen activists created the Red and Green Collective a fortnight ago, to carry out actions to raise awareness of the climate emergency. Since then, they have been traveling through the towns of the department to extinguish the illuminated signs left on: after Argenton-sur-Creuse, Le Blanc and Eguzon, this was the case this Thursday evening in Châteauroux.

Prohibition to leave on between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m.

Equipped with a telescopic fishing rod to which they have taped a hook, the members of the collective can easily turn off the signs. “Most of the time, there is a box outside, just above the sign, with a small lever: you lower it with the hook, and it goes out” explains one of them, suiting the action to the word. An idea they had when they saw other citizens doing videos, which sometimes went viral. “We are all activists, involved in unions or political parties, and we’ve wanted to do ecological actions for a while in the department. By dint of seeing videos all over the internet, we decided to do the same “.

A not really legal action, but they point out that it is not also not legal to leave signs on between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m.according to a decree published in 2012.

The owners of the stores, they are illegal

And to specify that the box they deactivate only controls the outside light, and does not risk turning off computers or fridges, for example. “Anyway, most of those who leave the signs are banks, insurance companies and real estate agencies” ; moreover, there is no question of them touching the restaurants or the bar, which are open in the evening.

“The effort must be shared”

What also motivates members to continue is that none of the signs they turned off have been turned on since: “one can also think that when the workers arrive in the morning and leave in the evening, as it is daytime, they do not notice that the light is on”. Collective accompanies each extinction of a small word explaining its gestureand encouraging owners to continue to pay attention to their consumption.

This kind of action, originally ecological, also takes an economic and social turnas winter approaches. “We are asking everyone to make an effort to avoid blackouts this winter. And when we see the signs and advertisers on, we think that there are simple energy savings to be made; precarious households find themselves without electricity, the effort must be shared by all” underlines one of the members.
Still young and made up of around ten people, the Collectif Rouge et Vert intends to grow and continue to turn off the signs in Indian cities but also in neighboring departments, such as Cher.

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