Posted on 11/08/2007 8:03:56 AM PST by goldstategop
Uh-oh. Those darn stores and business with their lights so we can find them are polluting the skies at night . . . with light. and we can't have that. The skies must be dark . . . just like in the dawn of time. I mean, if cavemen had dark skies, then we must have them, too. Right?
That's the point of view of the Dark Skies movement, a group of uber-environmentalists who like their skies dark . . . and their ability to see the road and find the store late at night hampered.
The movement took hold in Flagstaff, Arizona, where since 1973, a city ordinance restricts businesses to low-intensity lights. And that's not all. starrynight.jpg
Lights must be shielded and directed toward the ground. Any light shining above horizontal "just lights up the bellies of bats," [environmental activist John] Grahame [co-founder of the Dark-Sky Coalition]. Commercial signs must have opaque backgrounds with little white light. A business' total amount of outdoor light is restricted.
But businesses are not wimps when it comes to trying to entice customers. Many Flagstaff stores are getting around the ordinance:
The stores hung big round globes inside their front doors that shine bright white light outside on the sidewalk and beyond.
This angers the Dark Sky Draculas.
Yup, let's go back to the Dark Ages . . . you know, the good ole' days. We can live like Bin Laden in caves. That's the ticket.
Beware of the Dark Sky Movement. And hope it stays in Flagstaff. But don't bet on it. A growing number of cities are looking into it, USA Today reports.
I can understand the need to be in the complete dark when you are stargazing, camping, or "communing with nature":
"The vast majority of people grow up in a city and don't know what a dark sky looks like," says David Crawford, co-founder of the International Dark-Sky Association in Tucson. "I've never seen anybody who wasn't deeply impressed, their souls struck almost, by being out in a really dark place."
But when we live in the 21st Century, and we want to get on with our lives after dark (which occurs early in the winter), we need light. And criminals don't go where the bright lights shine.
If you want a completely dark sky, go camping. And stop inconveniencing the rest of us with your anti-technology, Unabomber-esque ways.
Reflecting the light downward to where it is most useful is a good idea. No sense wasting those photons going upward to illuminate nothing. Scatter off of buildings and billboards is another matter, although having less of those huge billboards around is probably not a bad idea, either. I have exterior lighting but it is all directed to areas I want to illuminate. I draw the curtains at night not only for privacy and insulation but to take advantage of reflection of interior lighting. That also reduces spillover to the outside environment.
Few at this site probably need these American Thinker pieces. Both are quick reads:
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2007/11/free_to_criticize_global_warmi.html
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2007/11/weather_channel_founder_global.html
Global Warming Every 1,500 Years by Singer & Avery in my opinion makes the best argument for what we are probably climatologically living through.
Gore and his people never cite the mechanisms of their science, i.e., precisely how CO2 greenhouses the world into frying to death. More importantly, I have never seen any global warming true believers refute even one of the several hundred points Singer and Avery make.
My understanding is that during the height of the 1,500 year warming cycles that the Western part of the US, including California, experience serious droughts.
Has anyone come across in which decades this process should peak?
Because most of our electricity is generated by finite resources, and using finite resources to make the world less interesting is kind of stupid. The night sky without light pollution is one of the most beautiful things for a person to look at, it is the grandest display of God’s creation, why make it ugly to no benefit.
The enviro wackos are organized and funded to provide support to the Democratic party. Look at the Sierra club funded by a guy with a 100 million gift so they would not talk about immigration because talking about immigration would like the Nazis of 1933 or something. This is all about making the increasingly uncomfortable white libs useful instead of running to the hills and their eco-communes.
Move the telescopes into orbit or to the far side of the moon and get some real star gazing done. I don’t want to have to live in the dark because of some star gazers. The good work of those astronomers can be done from alternate locations.
Nope. That is simply your opinion, not to be confused with facts, please.
>The night sky without light pollution is one of the most beautiful things for a person to look at, it is the grandest display of God’s creation, why make it ugly to no benefit.
Because I can, and I don’t agree with your opinion of the night sky as some sacrosanct area where I can not shine light if I so wish, nor do I believe that light is another "pollutant.".
“Maybe in California you can’t see the night sky because of smog and lights, but out here in the mountain west, where at high altitudes you are above low atmospheric haze, curbing unnecessary light makes sense.”
I live in Longmont, Colorado and take my scope out almost every night and have a great time. Of course if I pile in the truck and drive up to 10,000’ or so the view is much better.
Exactly, reflectors not only help keep the night sky pretty, they help you get the most for your money. Especially now with the movement to get rid of incandescent lights, if you’re going to spend $40 for a bulb before you even put electricity through it might as well spend a couple bucks to make sure all the light goes where you want it. If 1/4 of he light coming from your bulb goes to the sky then you’re only getting $30 worth of light from your $40 bulb, that doesn’t sound very smart.
The night sky is a lot prettier when it’s dark. And requiring that outdoor lighting not glare up towards the sky has no ill effect on lighting at street level. It’s often a significant money saver too, as energy bills drop when street lights are built with fixtures or bulbs that reflect all the light produced down in the direction where it’s needed. I’m not particularly interested in paying higher taxes so my state and town can light up the night sky.
What are all those lights off the east coast of South Korea? No islands out there that I can see.
Crooks, rapists, gang-members and drug-dealers are all for it...
Enjoying and being awed by beauty is not a liberal or conservative idea - it’s a reality. I and others enjoy a beauty that apparently some people have simply no concept.
If you and others fit THAT category - then more pity to you.
I had my fill of absolute darkness in the days and weeks following Hurricanes Ivan and Katrina. Not only darkness, but the quite as well. The heat was almost unbearable at times. Give me lights, sounds and A/C!
No those are facts. Most of our electricity is generated by finite resources, this is a fact. Light aimed up at the sky obscures stars, this is a fact. Light aimed at the sky doesn’t actually illuminate anything useful, this is a fact.
So you should be able to lessen the value of my property by obscuring my view of the night sky? Sorry bub, that’s a violation of my rights. The reality is light spill effects people for hundreds of miles around, that does make it pollution. As another poster pointed out an observatory in the middle of nowhere Texas is effected by the lights of Phoenix. This is, again, a FACT. Light pollution is real. Your unwillingness to believe in it (ie your OPINION) not withstanding.
Dunno. I live out in the sticks. It gets VERY dark at night. I can see the milky way just before dawn. Have you ever seen the milky way?
Except of course those telescopes are much more expensive to build and to maintain. And you don’t have to live in the dark, that’s the big lie in this article. Dark skies is about using hoods and reflectors to put the light where it’s useful, not only does it not make you live in the dark it helps you get the most for your lighting dollar.
The best illumination is the kind that goes where it is best utilized. Reflecting the light downward instead of letting it stream away upward into the sky is better for improving safety. The bad guys are on the ground, not flying up in the sky.
It can be done in an incremental manner, As the lights are replaced, put a reflector on the fixture, or use a bulb with an internal reflector.
Environmentalists aside, it seems like a lot of money wasted if a business is lighting the dark sky above. If the parking lot lights are shielded at the top, all of the energy, and candlepower is directed where it needs to be; down on the shoppers.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
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