When did you last sit on the porch and watch it get dark? It's hard to do, because it doesn't really get very dark around here. Check out the astronomy picture for the day, November 27, 2000, which is quite amazing.
If you haven't seen the New Yorker article, "The Dark Side," by David Owen (August 20, 2007, pp. 28-33), you may not realize what else you're not seeing. Cities, streets, highways, even country roads, and of course all the shopping malls scattered all over the landscape have more and more lights, and over the decades it has gradually become brighter and brighter at night, so that I wonder if there is any place in Rhode Island where we could see the Milky Way? Remember the Milky Way?
I was fortunate enough to visit a friend in Maine this summer, and I
can report that the Milky Way is still there, and quite bright when you
get away from towns and cities. but according to the New Yorker
article, "To see skies truly comparable to those which Galileo knew,
you would have to travel to such places as the Australian outback and
the mountains of Peru."
This article is fascinating and raises some practical and economic issues as well.
- The cost of outdoor lighting is staggering and much of it is unnecessary
- More outdoor lighting is not necessarily safer
- Security lighting only works when it helps people notice criminals in action while not helping criminals to see what they're doing (movement sensors are better than all-the-time lights)
- Lowering the level of outdoor light at night can make it easier to see farther
- Nighttime lights have ecological impacts: e.g., decimated some insect species, and adversely affected sea-turtle populations in Florida
The International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) has reports of studies and activities of many astronomical organizations that are concerned about light pollution. They work with lighting professionals to develop guidelines for outdoor lighting. See their page on Lighting Engineering. The annual symposium begins Thursday, September 20 (this week) in Quebec, by the way. We can get a lot of good ideas from the IDA's website.
Rhode Island does not yet have a chapter of the IDA, folks, but there is a Northeast U.S. contact in Connecticut. There is no information given about light pollution ordinances for Rhode Island towns and cities. Are there any? They want information on what municipalities in Rhode Island are doing about outdoor lighting.
However, the IDA gives the link to the State of Rhode Island's outdoor lighting control statute, which became law in 2002. Here is an excerpt:
42-136-1. Short title. -- This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Outdoor Lighting Control Act."
42-136-2. Findings. -- The general assembly finds that fully shielded lighting units considerably reduce light pollution. The general assembly further finds that the replacement of unshielded lighting units with fully shielded lighting units can result in substantial lowering in the wattage of the lamp needed to maintain an equivalent level of lighting on the ground, thereby realizing a considerable energy savings to the state. Therefore, it is in the public interest to require the use of fully shielded lighting units to the maximum extent possible.
This seems to apply only to state agencies, not to business and industry. What about businesses? It seems to be cost-effective to follow the General Assembly's lead. When you see outdoor lighting installations around the state, know that there are issues here. Are our laws, regulations, and ordinances about outdoor lighting adequate?
