A growing group of environmental activists are taking advantage of emergency power shut-off switches found on the exteriors of businesses throughout France; toting broomsticks, they wander the streets at night to find businesses with neon lights still blazing in the window despite being closed, and simply reach or climb up to switch the power off.

They call themselves Le Clan du Néon and believe they are doing the planet a favor. Thousands of shops across Europe leave their lights on overnight, just as they do in America, unnecessarily eating up tens of gigawatt hours of power every year.

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