The lights were on but there was nobody home

Interest in ‘saving the planet’ has grown significantly over the years, and there is now certainly a much higher level of awareness of ‘green’ issues. However, it is sadly the case that we are still a long way from getting it right. The reason I say this is that running training courses is a big part of my portfolio career these days and I regularly have to go round venues switching off unnecessary lights. For example, I recently ran a course in a centre that has three training rooms in a row along a corridor. When I arrived just before 9am the lights were on in all three rooms. I assumed therefore that all three rooms were being used for training that day. However, when I went to the toilet during the mid-morning break I noticed the other two rooms were not in use but all the lights were still on. I checked with the receptionist and she confirmed that the room I was using was the only one scheduled to be used that day. So, that left me wondering who put all three sets of lights on when only one room was due to be used and why did the various other people who would have walked past those fully illuminated but unused rooms not put the lights out? If we can’t get these simple basic things right what hope is there for making progress when it comes to safeguarding our environmental well-being?