Light Pollution - interesting article

[albedo0.39]

It seems that up to a fith of the planet's population has lost the ability to see the Milky way due to light pollution.

Interesting article (and some comments) here.

My local council has a specific strategy on reducing light pollution - even to the point of refitting timers to all the street lights (or is that only for cost reduction ?)

I feel sorry for all those would be astronomers living in the centre of a big city without access to dark skies, so count myself lucky living where I do.

[ashenlight]

albedo, interesting article thanks for the link. It's a very sad situation to be in isn't it

A part of me thinks that if more people could look up and see the galaxy that we live within, they would be a little bit more proactive about trying to protect our precious Earth... after all, all we are is a

we should be looking after it, not exploiting it

You really are lucky albedo, and I know you appreciate it, all astronomers do I think I've only seen the Milky Way once, from West Wales... hoping to get away to a LP free location soon to see that astounding sight again. Puts things into perspective doesn't it?

Amanda

[AstroTiger]

I personally think its sad and hypocritical.

I often go to visit my family in London, i look at the sky at night (sky not program) and see an orange sky.

Apparently though this is ok.

My nephew and Neice are now in their mid teens and NEVER seen the Milky Way, something which as their Uncle i woul very much like them to see.

A truly sad kettle of affairs where carrier bags are now a no, no, higher tax on fuel guzzling cars, but inefficient lighting is ok.

Ok i am ranting again, my apologies.

[albedo0.39]

Good rant.. it's worth it. Although trying to fix Light Pollution in London is a tough ask IMHO

[Vega]

This is going to sound pretty negative but here in the UK (and dare I say Europe), things arn't really gonna change much in the long term. The only reason light pollution seems to be getting at least a little bit of attention by our local Council's is the issue of higher electricty costs and increasing pressure from attitudes towards green issues. The minute that cheaper and more efficient LED technologies take off like they predict, we'll be back to square one. Lets face it, the super convenient, well lit, 24 hour culture we live in seems to be more important to the vast majority of the population (excluding most on this forum hopefully) than preserving our precious sky.

Matt

[James]

......My nephew and Neice are now in their mid teens and NEVER seen the Milky Way, something which as their Uncle i woul very much like them to see.

The real problem is that having never seen the Milky Way they don't know what they are missing and in not knowing what they are missing there's no impetus to do anything about it...

[Vega]

Theres an easy solution to this.... send every local counsellor in the UK to Arizona during a moonless August night. Blindfold them for 30 minutes before telling them to take the blindfold off and look up! (Erm.. im not volunteering for the transport costs though lol).

Matt

[George]

Looks like I'll have to stand at the next elections then, I'd sell the wife to spend some time in Arizona

[Talitha]

... send every local counsellor in the UK to Arizona during a moonless August night. Blindfold them for 30 minutes before telling them to take the blindfold off and look up!

Hmmm.. would they be understandably awestruck by the beauty of the night sky,

or would they scream like little girls because it's so dark?

[Beulah]

Perhaps to most, the silent, glimmering beauty of a crystal clear night sky isn't as "entertaining" as the lightshows in nightclubs...

[Matthew.Blake]

There's enough of us on the forums to drown local councils in paper. Why not be a bit more pro-active and start writing to them as a forum? All you lose is 30 minutes of your time.

[Vega]

Wihle were on the subject, am I right in thinking that Council's are unable to switch off certain street lights even if they wanted to. What I mean is places like roundabouts and the first few either side of a peclican crossing? (There's bound to be some EU regulation or something). Reason I ask is there is a roundabout just down from my back garden and the streetlights are thos tall ones... no matter how much letter writing and complaining I do, it wont make a blind bit of difference to my situation.

Matt