Turn out the lights before our lights go out, literally

People around the world engage in various pursuits aimed at preserving our fossil fuels and so help avoid the implications of climate change.
In the early 60s we had an important idea, widely implemented, that did both those things and actually was cheaper and was without the need for any complex carbon reduction pollution schemes.
Turning of street lighting may well make low wattage light globes, green shopping bags and hybrid powered cars redundant.
Walking home as young man from the weekly Saturday night dance (yes, we had them then and they were alcohol free, which didn’t mean drunks were not about) at one o’clock in the morning (the dance ended at midnight) and the streets would suddenly go dark.
Our way of life then saw all our street lights turn off at 1am - an inbuilt country-wide Carbon Reduction Pollution Scheme (CPRS) that must have had a huge impact on our demand for electricity.

'It is as simple as throwing a switch'

Leading US climatologist, Dr James Hansen, is overtly concerned about our burning of coal to generate electricity as it is, he argues, the most voluminous of all those gasses that impinge on the effectiveness of our atmosphere.
It is as simple as throwing a switch and turn off the lights, but the resultant complications are not so simple – darkness shrouds the playground of those who strain at a law abiding life and who often play in the dark by their own rules, mostly at the expense of others.
There are few workable alternatives to coal powered electricity generation with nuclear power most able to meet base loads being (something Dr Hansen advocates), but which brings with it baggage that humanity would be unwise to lug about.
Beyond helping save the planet, turning our street lamps out early would save money – presently some 6000 lamps cost the Greater City of Shepparton about $40 000 a month.
The answer appears obvious to those of us who nervously fear the other and what is different, and the dark, but unimpeded thinking, free from distraction and emotion can see a clear distinction – our failure to understand how we can live without night being day will soon the lights go out, literally, for all of us.