.... or so they can be in most of Putnam County. When the
skies are dark
and the weather clear out here in Western Kent you can easily make
out the
Milky Way as it stretches itself across the night sky. Satellites
and
meteors are among the easily seen night sky objects. And, with
binoculars
or a small telescope even more comes easily in to view.
But suburbia is spreading and, slowly but surely, we're losing
our ability
to see the night sky. Field Lights on parks can be seen for miles,
even a
neighbor with an unshielded light can be seen for miles or more
once the
leaves come off the trees. The street lamps we use to light our
highway and
road intersections... none of them are shielded and much of the
energy used
to produce that light is wasted as the light is scattered in
every
direction but down.
Shielded lighting costs a little more to put into place, but
since the
light is focused on where it needs to be, the wattage is lower
so in the
long run it's cheaper to own and operate. And more, shielded
lighting can
protect your view of the night sky while still providing the
lighting you
need for safety around your home.
The worst offended to dark skies are lights on parks and stadiums.
These
lights, thousands and thousands of watts, cast their mercury
vapor glow out
in all directions and can be seen for miles on a clear night
and many more
miles on a cloudy night as a low cloud bank reflects and scatters
the
light. Moreover, these bright "stadium" or "park" lights
are known to
confuse animals and birds and plants that depend on a certain
amount of
night-time darkness.
From a National Geographic Article:
"A recent experiment sheds light on the light-pollution problem
for salamanders. Ecologists Sharon Wise and Bryant Buchanan from Utica
College strung white holiday lights along transects near Mountain Lake
Biological Station in Pembroke, Virginia, to test the effects of artificial
lighting on the amphibianswhich normally emerge from beneath leaf litter
to hunt about an hour after dusk..
"We found that when lights are on, they stay hidden for an
additional hour," said Wise. "The later they come out, the less food
they
may be able to eat."
Buchanan also discovered that some tree frogs stop calling in
brightly-lit areas. "If the males aren't calling, they're not reproducing,"
he said.
He is also concerned about the way light affects physical
development. Lab studies show that the amount of light exposure affects DNA
synthesis and the production of hormoneshormones that regulate everything
from how much fat the frogs store for the winter to when they produce eggs."
People who live near Ryan's Field or Carmel High School know
exactly what
I'm talking about and how invasive these bright lights can be!
We need to take dark skies into account as part of our quality
of life.
Shield your lights so that they point *only* where they need
to be, put
them on timers or motion sensors, make certain your lights do
not shine
onto your neighbor's property our out into the street where they
can cause
a hazard to passing drivers and most of all, whenever the specter
of
non-safety related outdoor lighting raises its head, stop it
dead in its
tracks.
Here are some links on the issue that might be of interest.
The Untied States at Night:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000708.html
Astronomical
Society of Greater Hartford:
http://members.aol.com/copernicanview/
National Geographic: Taking Toll on Wildlife:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/04/0417_030417_tvlightpollution.html
Sample Light Pollution Local Law
http://www.townofkent.org/forum/light_law.htm
Jeff
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