SOUTH BEND — Joe Carbone has issues with light bulbs.

Christine Fiordalis wants South Bend and Mishawaka to use energy more efficiently.

And Jackie Smith and LuCinda Hohmann want to talk to people about jobs and the environment.

They’re the people who spoke during a Blue-Green Alliance news conference at the United Auto Workers hall in South Bend on Thursday that was part of the Michiana Call to Action week.

Carbone, chairman of St. Joseph Valley Jobs for Justice, said after the press conference that General Electric Co. has a patent on the mercury vapor fluorescent bulbs that can replace incandescent bulbs in lamps.

But, Carbone said, the bulbs are made in China. He and others would like to see them made in the United States.

“We have standards on handling mercury,” he said. “It (making them) would be done safely here.”

Recent legislation would phase out the use of incandescent bulbs over the next four years, making sale of the bulbs even more profitable, according to Carbone.

He spoke in support of the “Screw That Bulb” campaign being conducted by the International Union of Electronic Electrical Salaried Machine and Furniture Workers, commonly called IUE.

Fiordalis, president of Michiana Sierra, called on the mayors of South Bend and Mishawaka to sign on to the Cool Cities initiative, a campaign to reduce the creation of carbon and use energy more efficiently.

“It’s a perfect opportunity to assess our local situation and engage with one another to address global warming and the effects of climate change,” she said.

Smith, of the University of Notre Dame and co-organizer of Michiana Call to Action, talked about people coming together to create “another world” that is better for people and the environment.

Hohmann, Midwest field organizer for Environment America, said a recent study shows that Indiana got 39,221 new jobs by converting some old manufacturing to make parts for equipment such as wind turbines, solar panels and the components that go with them.