Thanks for writing about this. It misses a couple of important points. 1) CFLs actually reduce the amount of mercury released into the environment because of their relative efficiency when compared to incandescents. See this calculation: http://www.energyrace.com/commentary/more_on_mercury_coal_and_cfls_updated/ which assumes that 0% of the CFLs are recycled. Popular Mechanics also crunched the numbers on this and found the same thing. 2) dimmable CFLs are available. Although they come at a premium.
Thanks again. – Corky