New light pollution laws

[mark skelton]

just come across this https://www.darksky.org/croatian-light-pollution-law/

[Dave Lloyd]

A good start. 

[happy-kat]

A step in the right direction. Good.

[DAVE AMENDALL]

Good one for Croatia. Doubtful if it would work in the UK though, as many laws of a similar nature are rarely or never enforced...............Dave

[teoria_del_big_bang]

I also doubt it will happen here anytime soon but if it did and even if police would not enforce it then it does give you leverage with any neighbours, including businesses, to act accordingly or take them to court (even if you never do the threat would be there so any sensible offender might think twice about lighting up the area like Wembley stadium - just maybe ?

Steve

Edited September 25, 2019 by teoria_del_big_bang

[maw lod qan]

It would be nice here in the States. If they only reduced the lights on businesses that were closed at night, it would make a tremendous difference.

[sloz1664]

It's good to know someone is taking notice of LP. Bring in a light pollution tax and you would see darker skies 😜

Steve

[Star101]

My understanding of the Law on the UK is that you have a right to enjoy your darkish sky astronomy from your own garden. If someone decided to put bright lights up next door, you can ask them politely to turn them off when not in use...i.e. They are not in their garden too. If thy are being unreasonable you can contact the local council and seek mediation. 

Knowing the info below gave me the confidence to go talk with two of my neighbours. I was polite and explained what I was trying to do and how their lights made it nigh impossible to enjoy my hobby. I took a couple of my astro images to show them too. Needless to say, they had no idea! They turned their lights off and my astronomy continues

UK info

[DAVE AMENDALL]

You were lucky there. My next door people have garden fairy lights (Xmas tree style) and  balloons with led lights in them. they are on every night and all night. They would never switch them off. I have combated this by hanging a large campers ground sheet on my clothes line which fortunately is just the right height and angle which keeps 95% of the light out of my garden. My biggest worry is they could be a fire risk as the lights are close to my fence and garden shed and are transformer operated. I don't think Nottingham council are bothered about light pollution as I could not find a web page dealing with this ?....Dave

[Star101]

3 hours ago, DAVE AMENDALL said:

You were lucky there. My next door people have garden fairy lights (Xmas tree style) and  balloons with led lights in them. they are on every night and all night. They would never switch them off. I have combated this by hanging a large campers ground sheet on my clothes line which fortunately is just the right height and angle which keeps 95% of the light out of my garden. My biggest worry is they could be a fire risk as the lights are close to my fence and garden shed and are transformer operated. I don't think Nottingham council are bothered about light pollution as I could not find a web page dealing with this ?....Dave

HI Dave

Sorry to read you have such inconsiderate neighbours.

If a polite approach fails, you could try contact your council's Environmental Health Officer, who may be willing to mediate.

Else, raise a complaint with the council here -Light pollution

Good luck.

[mark skelton]

Looks like another country has done the same La nuit est belle - turning off the lights in Geneva.

[Aramcheck]

France also recently introduced legislation to control light pollution:-  https://www.darksky.org/france-light-pollution-law-2018/

I think there is more prospect of getting the light pollution problem noticed here in the UK by concentrating on other aspects, other than astronomy, such as the ongoing catastrophic loss of insects & impacts of artificial lighting on wildlife... In Austria's 77-page guidance on Outdoor lighting, for instance, eleven pages are dedicated to the effects on wildlife:- https://www.land-oberoesterreich.gv.at/files/publikationen/us_Leitfaden_Guidelines_Outdoor_lighting_english.pdf

There have been a number of papers published in scientific journals. The Jan 2018 edition of Nature magazine included " The dark side of light: how artificial lighting is harming the natural world" which is a good introduction (https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-00665-7) and the Artificial Light At Night (ALAN) database has over 600+ related research papers (http://alandb.darksky.org/). Some of the research has gotten picked up by the press - eg York & Newcastle Uni's work on moths: "The dark side of street lighting: impacts on moths and evidence for the disruption of nocturnal pollen transport" (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/gcb.13371), which has been reported on in several newspapers eg: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2019/01/21/street-lamps-should-turned-night-allow-moths-pollinate-say-scientists/; (https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/street-lights-insects-light-pollution-night-moths-pollination-ecosystems-plants-a8735411.html and https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/jun/02/street-lights-lure-moths-away-from-gardens-say-scientists.

More recently the Universities of Colorado / Melbourne published a literary review " Light Pollution Is a Driver of Insect Declines" (https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3378835) which is also worth reading.

In the UK, the government's 25 year plan for the environment only manages one line saying that " 'light and noise pollution must be managed effectively " and there seems to have been little action taken since 2003's Royal Commission  on Environmental Pollution - Artifical Light In The Environment report (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/artificial-light-in-the-environment).

This DW Documentary "The Insect Apocalypse" is also worth watching (https://youtu.be/GzhHHVFp32U) as is their "Disappearing Darkness" film (https://youtu.be/9NyQgHGF1NM).

Apologies for the ramble!

Ivor

[DAVE AMENDALL]

Hi , Thanks for the LP link ref Nottingham County Council ( I was searching within Rushcliffe borough and found nothing)  Looks hopeful should make progress there...........Dave

[Helen]

Well I've just submitted a request for shielding to our local council (did feel a prat taking a photo of a lamp post to get its number 🤣).  It's not that close to our house but the angle is such that the light bounces off the various angles of our conservatory and it looks like 4 bright white lights.  We'll see.  I'd actually be happy to pay any (reasonable) cost of sorting it out.  Watch this space...(hopefully!!)

Helen