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Is light pollution killing our birds......????????
Read the Challenge pdf - "Is Light Pollution Killing Our Birds?" (and other animals)! It has been doing so for over 113 years. According to the Times of London the English songbird, the cuckoo, is now on the IUCN Red List, moreover Colin Tudge agrees in the Telegraph, July 2010, although it has taken 113 years to get there, apparently? Professor Gerhard Eisenbeis remarked in 2006 that the light at night of the 24 hour day "sucks insects to their deaths like a vacuum cleaner"! (Professor Gerhard Eisenbeis, Rich and Longcore, page 283). So ALL insectivores, and not just English songbirds, are likely to die from simple starvation, apparently? BTW the house sparrow and starling, as well as the cuckoo, are "threatened"?Light pollution: the "hidden" harm and Insects: we would do well to remember them? Well frankly we haven't done at all well to remember them, apparently? Environmetal Protection UK do a downloadable pdf leafletet HERE about light pollution. But please do not forget that you can reduce unnecessary light at night, which causes light pollution, by turning off lights which are not needed (Carbon Trust pdf). The UK Government wants ideas to save money and energy - I told them HERE to turn OFF unnecessary vanity lighting - simple huh? If you want more then read this - The change of the Light Brigade - Mancunians are being asked to spotlight the city's energy wasters by tipping-off campaigners to those buildings that leave their lights on at night. You can email this story to friends with the link top LHS of the BBC page. All that is needed is to switch OFF unnecessary (even vanity) lighting at night, simple? The BBC - Night time creatures in crisis. The history of light pollution has been much older than you might imagine? The really serious problem is that NO ONE will research this insect decline hypothesis and the more widespread "hidden" harm that is being done. Read HERE that no-one has listened for at least 113 year in my "last missive"! BTW, did YOU know that dead insects, even today, can be found piling "knee deep"? Just like Copenhagen, the climate summit, 2009 - no one listens - we will be JTL - Just Too Late! A vicious circle of decline? - Just as Colin Henshaw said in 1994! (Media interests look HERE - some URLs are now redundant- sorry). A reminder of IDA member David Crawford from 1991 - the warnings are repeated at regular intervals - they are just IGNORED - we really will be JTL! Dark skies over Lymm - Chris Reeves wins back the night for Lymm, Cheshire, in 2010. Shelly Quinton-Hulme, in Stretford, Manchester, England, friend of Victoria Park, tells me that she joined in with World Earth Hour - did YOU? Scotland and Earth Hour are here with video. Shelly and friends at Victoria Park will hold a moth watch, 15th May 2010. Butterfly and bat night will follow in August. BTW the oil pollution in the Gulf of Mexico is making people aware of the harm of pollution. Did you know that light pollution affects turtles too? There Once Was A Sky Full Of Stars - the video from Chile (with English subtitles) about the book from Bob Crelin. I am glad that I was a kid 50 years ago when I could see the stars and the sky at night. Very few kids can do so today, apparently? BTW we have ignored the concept that circadian disruption in the environment is damaging for over 113 years - is the mobile phone having similar "hidden" effects NOW? Perhaps politicians and more scientists should be better focussing their research? Please do not forget Late Brealing a few scrolls below! Colin Henshaw has created a Mauritian Creole translation of this page HERE - enjoy! The pdf version is HERE. The header article is from Challenge magazine, Summer 2006. Four years on, Summer 2010, things have changed. People now think that turning off UNNECESSARY lights at night is a GOOD idea. Or fit PIR lighting controls on street lights. At last the penny is dropping? BTW we have a Late Breaking News segway a few scrolls down this page. Please give it a coat of looking at. Thanks. I give the definition of UNNECESSARY from Collins dictionary HERE. At PMQs 28-Oct-2009 Gordon Brown said he WILL turn off lights on Downing Street for the CfDS - WHEN? He seemed to be remarkably patronising! BTW Parliament had a discussion 29 Oct 2009 on Light Pollution - Oral Answers To Questiosn - Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. More COMPLACENCY and ignorance from UK Government? Listen to Mr. Peter "Lights ON" Hain, MP - HERE! Learn more of the Government complacency, once again from PM Gordon Brown, as a 17 year old asks about light pollution, in the Leicester Mercury HERE. Robin Bonell, half way down the page, had first been described as an "astrologer" until this correction HERE!. PS Copenhagen WILL BE A COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME - see Late Breaking below. It WAS - Malini Mehra desribed Copenhagen, for the BBC, as the Munich of OUR Times - sad that the opportunity was apparently lost? Light Pollution - The Problem. Dr John Mason's video's excerpt from Portsmouth, 2006. Dr. Darren Baskill has placed new video links HERE to a selection from 2006. He tells me that he is adding even more - 19 October 2009. They are HERE now! BTW LP as an historic problem can be traced back to 1897 - YES 1897! Astronomers use the term ‘light pollution’ or LP (sometimes also called light at night or LAN) to describe the effect of artificial night lighting obscuring the stars. Professor Fred Watson, author of “Why Is Uranus Upside Down?", gives his thoughts on light pollution and astronomy but he also expresses the wider concerns to be found here and in other web pages. BTW the first UK Dark Sky sites have been inaugurated in Scotland. National Assembley For Wales - Supports the British Astronomical Association’s Campaign for Dark Skies - the CfDS. Further to this Galloway Forest is up for an IDA Dark Sky Park award -The Times - well done Galloway! Galloway Forest NOW HAS its Dark Sky Status. Use Dan Nixon's Dark Sky Simulator to see just how good the GF really is HERE. - The GF is between Glasgow and Stranraer. Learn what YOU are missing in this VIDEO from the USA! BLINDED BY THE LIGHT? The CfDS hanbook describing the wider consequencies of the 24 hour day. You may have already read the frontispiece. Now you can buy the handbook itself. Bob Mizon, MBE and I co-edited the handbook, published in 2009, and which many famous people now possess. Available from The CfDS, c/o 38 The Vineries, Colehill, Wimborne, Dorset, BH21 2PX, United Kingdom. Here in the UK the unit price is about £3 per copy, including post and packaging. Over 70 copies were given to Armagh delegates and more recently environmentalists at a meeting in Cardiff received delegate copies as well - I hope that people read them? If they do not then we really will be JTL. Profs Jocelyn Bell-Burnell, Mike Edmunds, Monica Grady and astronomy historian Dr. Alan Chapman have their copies - do YOU? Even Shadow Climate Secretary, MP Ed Miliband has a copy - as does Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, MP and his deputy Dr. Vince Cable, MP (his is signed by the webmaster because he signed my copy of his book, The Storm! ). Even Trafford MP, Graham Brady has a copy. He likes chapter 4 best, whcih deals with the harm that LAN can do to human health.NB - The 9th European Dark Sky conference, Armagh Northern Ireland, 18-19 September 2009. Professor Steve Lockley spoke LIVE from Harvard Medical Center. This was a FANTASTIC Dark Sky Symposium - the BEST ever. Children from Mount St. Catherine's Primary School, Armagh sing Starry, Starry Night on Youtube to remind us of what we have lost. You can access the conference presentations as the web site develops its archive. A MUST for environmentalists, astronomers and those who care (which may also include politicians - Colin Tudge's "public enemy NUMBER ONE"?). Enjoy the archive when it is up and running. Have a look here at the Galaxy That We Have Lost to LP/LAN - our own, the Milky Way. Time Lapse Video of what is lost! - as seen from a site in Idaho.BTW WHY DOESN'T PRESIDENT OBAMA AND PRESIDENT HU OF CHINA LISTEN TO THE 9TH EUROPEAN DARK SKY SYMPOSIUM? PERHAPS THEY DO NOT WANT THE TRUTH? IT IS OUT THERE - OR ARE THEY JUST "BLINDED BY THE LIGHT?"Francis Parnell suggested - 'Since the "natural environment" after sunset is darkness, maybe we should call it what it really is - night pollution.' Is the 24 hour day killing off "Life On Earth"? It appears that National Geographic agree with some aspects of these concepts? And so too does Starry Night Lights! BTW LP/LAN is killing biodiversity in Old Saigon? Now known as Ho Chi Minh City. Here you can read the quote that "In the long term, light pollution will possibly have DANGEROUS effects on ecological diversity" If the Vietnam URLs fail try this HERE! - (LA Times said the same 1897!) And someone in Can Tho, Minh Hai, Vietnam has Googled "reduce light in the UK" and found this web site. I hope that they link to the Ho Chi Minh City site? This movie, of LP in the US of A, from 1950 thru 2025, is fantastic HERE. Just scroll a little bit down the page to access the movie. The webmaster has created an (inferior) version for Europe HERE. Please excuse the political irony at the video end. The City "Domes" of Wasted Energy Which Should Be Charging Our EVs and WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR? by Chris Paine You can buy the DVD here in the UK for only £4.43 P+P free. Please make a New Year Resolution to join in with World Earth Hour, 27th March 2010 - Scotland is - will YOU? BTW, if you join in with WEH will you be interested in GAM 2010? or Globe at Night, 3-16 March, 2010. It's all happening? A very big THANK YOU to this web site's visitors. You have HIT it ~70,211 times since 591tember 2006 when I created it. Visitors (including reloads) are listed at ~111,140. It now has ~42 per day (short term), Tuesday 7th September 2010. BTW My site has "HIT" ~ 70,000 in just 4 years or thereabouts! With Earth Hour in March, my web site exceeded 61,000! I have just returned from the fantastic 10th Europrean Dark Sky Symposium in Hungary. I will adda a review when I have time. The 9th European Dark Sky Symposium, in Armagh, NI, 18-19 September, 2009 las t year was just "brilliant"! My JTL presentation can be found HERE, about 1hr10mins into the video, after BATS and TURTLES! Will YOU be following the next Dark Sky Symposium in Hungary? If you will then I really look foward to seeing you there. Please tell your friends about the hidden "passive" harm caused by light at night (LAN), often called light pollution (LP). Although strictly LP is a SYMPTOM of LAN. Moreover tell others why turning OFF UNNECESSARY, repeat UNNECESSARY, light at night is good for everyone and good for Life, the Universe and Everything. If we do not then maybe LAN will become the "new"asbestos (from an idea of Dr. Barry Clark, Australia)? With massive, unnecessary, litigation cases wasting more money. (It has already been the "new" DDT for over 113 years?). My JTL Armagh presentation, as a single video, can be viewed HERE. The pdf version can be loaded HERE - enjoy? Hopefully YOU will not be too depressed - if we can educate our leaders we will succeed. The future is up to YOU! Please do NOT fail that future. BACK TO THE FUTURE - Living today the future that was predicted in 1994? - or even 1897 " Lights (at night) could well eliminate insects over a large area. As the insect population declines, this will have an effect on the predators higher up in the food chain which feed on them. This would include many birds, lizards and frogs and small mammals (including bats). These effects would be above and beyond those already caused by loss of habitat through urbanisation. Many insects are pollinators of flowering plants, so as the insect population goes down the number of flowers successfully pollinated may also decline. This will lead to fewer plants and less plant diversity in years to come. Since many insects feed on plants the size of the insect population will further decline as we have fewer plants. A similar observation was made in September 1897 - YES that is right September 1897 acording to the LA Times. (Information courtesy of Dr. Travis Longcore, Urban Wildlands Group, California, USA). You can read the transcript as a DOC file HERE. BTW Wikipedia carries this page describing the decline of an English songbird NOW! They have been in decline for 113 years - no-one listened then and no-one listens now - a bit like Copenhagen? < - - LATE BREAKING - - >FOR THOSE NEW TO THIS SITE, LIGHT AT NIGHT CAN BE ENERGY WASTE (WHICH COSTS US MILLIONS) - THIS ADDS TO GLOBAL WARMING, "NO LONGER A THEORY, BUT A HARSH REALITY" SO REDUCE CLIMATE CHANGE BY TURNING OFF UNNECESSARY LIGHT AT NIGHT You can read the definiton of UNNECESSARY from Collins dictionary HERE. Please know the FACTS of light pollution/light at night & tell friends.I have just returned from Kaposcvar, Hungary, which hosted the 10th Dark Sky Symposium. So much commonsense analysis of the obvious and more insidious "hidden" harm caused by the modern 24 hour day. On my return to the UK the OLF posted a link to this picture of Greece at night HERE. Its donor Jonh McMahon remarked we can see our home towns now from the ISS at night BUT WE CANNOT SEE THE NIGHT SKIES because of the light pollution caused by the light at night which is being described by commentators as a Group 2A carcinogen! We raelly will be JTL instead of being JIT? New York skyscrapers to tun off their lights at night to save bird kills. How about turning them off to save Life On Earth? Are we already past the tipping point? - Biggest ice island for 48 years breaks off Greenland glacier. An ice island with an area of 100 square miles has broken off from one of Greenland's two main glaciers in what scientists say is the biggest such event in the Arctic in nearly 50 years. Once again Homer Glen, Chicago, Illinois leads the way to a normal environment with acceptable light at night. Lights only on when NEEDED and off when NOT NEEDED. With advice to avoid unnecessary energy waste using silly vanity lighting. I really hope other council officers follows the lead of Homer Glen, Mayor Daley and IDA board member Debra Norvil. Fingers tightly crossed - it is just common sense and every little helps, after all? Turn off unnecessary lights at night to reduce energy waste and reduce floods, fires, melting ice and feverish heat: From smoke-choked Moscow to water-soaked Pakistan and the High Arctic, the planet seems to be having a midsummer breakdown. It's not just a portent of things to come, scientists say, but a sign of troubling climate change already under way. Wake up folks, the future is happening NOW, apparently? It is not just floods in Pakistan and China and heat waves in Russia - it is also heat waves in the USA now. It's Official - Russian disaster sign of global warning. So now YOU know - and what are YOU going to do about it? How about saving unnecessary energy waste by turning OFF unnecessary lights at night, huh? And now Indonesian coral reefs die out, apparently because of oceans that are too hot? Giant Greenland iceberg a "climate warning sign" - it is a signal that global warming is causing the island's continent-sized ice cap to melt faster than expected, scientists say. Nothing new here then? And there's more - France 24 - Despite efforts France fails to curb CO2 - so once again someone else picks up the tab, apparently? A story from NASA - At night however, city lights present the space observer spectacular evidence of our existence, our distribution, and our ability to change our environment. And all that evidence of wasted unnecessary light at night, wasted energy and environmental circadian destruction and nocturmal habitat destruction proves that humans are unsustainable in the 21st century, trying to live the 20th century dream? C'est la vie. We really will be JTL, apparently? Could working the night shift alter a woman's body clock enough to cause breast cancer? The WHO (World Health Organisation) said that it would in December 2007. Nothing new here then? Increasing nocturnal light and overnight shift work has coincided with a steady increase in incidence of cancer, prompting epidemiologists and other scientists to ask if there is a connection. Associated Press - reported in GREEN - Climate Talks Appear To Slip Backwards. So the planet will heat up, the ice will melt, more evaporation will cause more rainfall but we will be able to EXPLOIT the Arctic for its wealth......... We really will be JTL! Apparently we do not have to worry about American energy consumption. We face China living the American dream now they are the largest energy consumer in the world. Whew!Live Science: Manhattan heat wave sign of city scorchers to come. Whew again, apparently? BTW Was last June warm where you live? If so, you weren't alone. According to measurements taken by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) June 2010 was the hottest June on record worldwide. Well now - and just how much of a surprise is this? Note the sense of irony. You can read more irony below, apparently. If you are from the UK then please add your name to these anti LP petitions. Every little helps. 10 Downing Street - deadline past and petition now closed with only 301 signatures - (JUST WHY DOES NO ONE CARE?) and the Welsh Assembly - which ended 31/1/2010 with a signing of about only 274 signatures! BTW I have found another WORLD LP petition site HERE - go for it. Only 28 signatures for this since October 2009 - Sadly it seems that no one knows this petition and no one cares. Tell your friends after YOU have signed up! Have a look at a real hi-res map of LP in the UK HERE. If you click on yor area of the UK then use the zoom control at screen bottom you can zoom up to a variable hi-res image of the LP in YOUR area. Neat huh? You already know that insects at the base of the food chain on land have been in decline for over 113 years. Now we learn that plankton is in big decline in the oceans. We really will be JTL, apparently? BTW global warming is continuing and no one cares. So as we continue to be profligate and tolerate unnecessary vanity lighting we continue to fail to conserve a vital fossil resource. We fail today and the future pays us back with compound interest - a statement from 10 minutes in to Saturday Night Fever! Sky-scraper sized billboards on track for approval in Miami - they have been on the Marriott in Kansas City for years? Nothing new here then - just more Blade Runner today- we pay the price for city fathers failing their responsibilities and patronising unsustainability, apparently? PhysOrg News from Hawaii - The message that light can be quite BAD is getting out, apparently? Newell's shearwater nixes Hawaii Friday night football. For many people the greatest joy from astronomy comes from simply standing beneath a clear dark sky and marvelling at the heavens. Today, however, a growing majority of people can no longer see the true beauty of the night sky from their homes. Clearly that MAJORITY just do not care - a JTL scenario for them all, apparently? How ironic? Read this quote about David Miliband from a UK Parliamentary Select Committe in 2003 (page 18, part 32). "We were surprised that the Minister for School Standards (Mr. David Miliband, MP) did not see the irony of his own words. Schools are now obliged to buy time to enable their pupils to view stars in the southern hemisphere, when the UK’s own night skies should be there for all to view for free. Astronomy in the UK plays a valuable part in supporting the work of professionals, engaging young people in science, and producing astronomers and physicists through UK universities. It is not good enough that PPARC and the Department for Education and Skills had to pay for young people in schools to “book time” on overseas telescopes to see the night sky as it should be." BTW Mr. Miliband is wanting to lead the Labour Party of the UK, as does his brother Ed who ironically has a copy of the CfDS handbook "Blinded by the Light?" - I know because I handed him that copy at GMEX in Manchester, before he went to Copenhagen. Perhaps they should BOTH read it? The BBC TV programme CLICK promotes EVs - EVs which should be charged using the domes of wasted energy that creates light pollution and illuminates the bums of birds at night, destroys nocturnal habitats and kills off Life On Earth, apparently? As I say below I look forward to F1 with EV power - perhaps by then there will not be any animals at which we can marvel? Nature News - IN SEARCH OF DARK NIGHTS - Astronomers and conservationists team up against bright lights. At long last collaboration. Now we need the WWF, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth. Maybe one day they will stop paddling their own canoes in circles and man the environmental triremes and quinqueremes as free people against the warships of the utility companies? Having lived in the USA, I am now real glad that I am not a citizen - sad really? The U.S. Supreme Court in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission shreds the fabric of our already weakened democracy by allowing corporations to more completely dominate our corrupted electoral process. Technology's disasters share a long trail of hubris - nothing new here then, apparently? I told of the future failure WRT nanoparticles 30 years ago and no one listened. Their "long range environmental effects" were obvious then, but no one listened! And no one listens now? More about Greenland - Big Chunk of Ice Breaks Off Glacier. Less ice on land and so more melt water raising sea level, apparently? The International Astronomical Union are looking at the implications of light pollution. It is now clearly shown that the total annual light energy loss is expected to be well over 1 billion US dollars per year world-wide. Heatwaves - "grim consequences for human health and farming" in the USA and "Think that you are hot now? Just wait a few years", apparently? BTW Listen to what renown Oxford author Colin Tudge says about human health and farming - Bournemouth 2008. Apparently politicians are public enemy number one! Now its maybe bye bye Arctic animals as well, apparently? Never in recorded history has there been this litle ice in the Arctic in early summer. And soon the North West Passage will be clear. So we can see oil exploration and more Gulf like oil spills, apparently? News that 27,000 oil wells have been abandoned in the Gulf of Mexico - so they are simple left to decay. Remember that Jon Travolta in "Saturday Night Fever" was told by his boss that what YOU screww up today pays YOU back with compound interest in YOUR future - the oil wells were our past and people then have screwed up our future TODAY, apparently? It isn't "back to the future" - it is the future today? A bit like electricity (aka LP/LAN) killing our birds, as was predicted 113 years ago. I repeat that the future is today, apparently? University of Texas - LP - "light pollution isn't just a nuisance to stargazers but a pervasive problem with real health impacts." It is not just Professors Steven Lockley and Richard Stevens who are saying this. Read the CfDS handbook "Blinded by the Light?" and learn more about the wider implications of light at night, LAN and its symptom, light pollution, LP. What we ALL need today is (sic) FRIENDS - Find the Right Illumination for our Eyes, Neighbors, and Dark Skies" - Right on Francis, we ALL need friends, of any kind around this 24 hour world. Interesting quote from Eddie Stardust of the Outdoor Lighting Forum in the USA - "Stars up, lights down, light not your eyes, the sky above or in between. Light the ground,where you walk and sometimes where you drive. Use light well in moderation and it will always be your friend, use it inappropriately and without care and it will kill impersonally just as any other drug does." And there's more - "Switching off your lights has a bigger impact than you think, says study". Told you so. Found this from the BBC - "For others it's a case of more light pollution causing yet more damage to our environment." Their piece mentions Emma Stone, researching the "hidden" harm done to bats by unnecessary light at night. She spoke at Armagh last year at the 9th European Dark Sky Symposium - the video. Please contribute to her on-line survey on your thoughts about light pollution - please go for it. You can click on links to hi-res images of Earth's cities at night a little way below this segway. Now the ISS has the video "Cities at night: An orbital tour around the world". Most of the light which makes this psossible is wasted energy, creating CO2, adding to global warming. Is it right that we ignore the "hidden" harm being done at night, disrupting circadian rhythms, worldwide, as illustrated in this ISS video? It is not just polar bears that are on their way out from extinction - so too is the world's smallest whale population, apparently? New Moms on the block declare that "... there is a growing movement toward lessening artificial lighting." If you are a new Mom, or even a new Dad, please tell your friends - more people need to know this. Nothing to do with LAN/LP but everything to do with the late Timperley SUPERSTAR Frank Sidebottom - did any of you watch the GORILLAZ at Glastonbury, Friday? They got this further comment at the Guardian - "You can see the set again via the BBC site at: http://bit.ly/glastogorillazband My favourite bit was Shaun Ryder's name check for Frank Sidebottom. Mancunian Shaun commented that Frank would be watching them now that he has passed away. Frank was a Timperley SUPERSTAR - see him HERE in a photo that he posed for me last year. You can watch him in Timperley library car park, talking about Timperley's other "topsy turvy car park" and UK MP, Tim Farron, HERE. BTW a picture of me in 1990, on the roof of the Timperley observatory of ADAS, is HERE. Frank did a piece from the ADAS obs in Timperley for Granada TV about the first Miss Timperley, Nichola. Sadly this obs has now gone - in part because of the growth of LP/LAN in the years since its build in 1968. Granada TV weatherman Fred Talbot started the society in 1964. Did you know that climate change adds to space junk - according to New Scientist, reported by Universe Today. Another web site, "Lights at night mean trouble for birds", carrying the image of the Earth at night with its extensive LAN. The message is spreading - please help to make it more widesread - tell YOUR friends before we are JTL - please. "Humans will be extinct in 100 years" says eminent scientist - another JTL prospect, apparently? The media "take" on this from The Daily Mail.Reuters - Methane, one of the worst greenhouse gases, "astonishingly" high in the Gulf of Mexico: US scientists, Tuesday. MacDonald Observatory promotes Dark Sky Awaeness. Read their web site HERE and watch their video HERE. Antarctic glaciers less stable - concerns about how climate change may push up world sea levels, scientists say - so it continues. Turn off UNNECESSARY lights at night and help to reduce global warming and climate change, - every little helps, so do YOUR bit now by switching it OFF if you do not need it, apparently?. Seattle Times - Climate bill from President Obama faces long odds. The USA now faces the long walk to future failure as the rest of the world, like India and China, leads the way, with its collective ability to better buy energy. Is the third picture, art by Ryoji Ikeda, as bad as the BP oil spill - albeit in a different way with God awful energy waste and only for the "sake of art", apparently? The "hidden" harm being done isdriven by crass, arrogant, ignorance, as usual? Folks - did you know that light at night has been killing insects (and other animals) since 1897? Dr. Ken. E. Frank warned again of a problem in 1988. Robin Scagell echoed his warning in a lecture about potential glow worm decline in 1993. Colin Henshaw repeated these warnings in 1994. Colin and I warned again in 2006, whilst Professor Gerhard Eisenbeis added that LP sucks insects to their deaths like a vacuum cleaner. Sadly no-one cares. A bit like the Feds warned BP of the risks of drilling in the Gulf in 2000 no-one cared then and no-one cares now. We really will be JTL - Just Too Late, apparently? Sad, but then no-one cares! Perhaps too many are just "Blinded by the Light?" - read HERE about the "hidden" harm to the environment, our pocket books, everything and not just astronomy and star gazing, apparently? If you wish to learn what a wonderful sight is seen in the dark night sky look at this time lapse from the Atacama Desert of Chile. Enjoy what you miss in the so called civilised world wasting energy and accelerating climate change! You might like seeing Orion HERE but which way up is right? It can hardly be seen with LP! Maybe SETI, the Search for Extra-Terresrial Intelligence is being compromised by light pollution making the optical search more difficult? Sorry ET - even if we get your "phone call" we will not see you as easy because of LAN/LP? Interesting speculation from the AAE. Will the modern 21st century cope with the onset of increased solar activity - or will our dependence on "intelligent" electronics cause business failure? Makes you think that we might need a plan B - at the moment we only have plan A with the electronic infrastructure that we all take for granted. I just hope that the technology will cope - if it doesn't will you be able to do so? Washington Post - What happened to the stars? They got polluted! Polluted by the light. Ben Harder. BTW - Literally everyone is now "Blinded by the Light?" Vancouver Sun - No quick fix on global warming, UN Chiefs. So as I have said on the pages of this web site for ages - we will be JTL - Just TOO Late, apparently? The US Federal Authorities ignored the Precautionary Principle 10 years Ago in the Gulf of Mexico - and look at what is happening now in the Gulf of Mexico. Ignore precaution and you pay the price, with compound interest (an idea from Saturday Night Fever, apparently). Perhaps we see in the BP decision to buy Internet access as proof, if ever it was needed, that PROFIT PRECLUDES PRECAUTION, further it PREVAILS OVER PRECAUTION and what is more that PROFIT PREVENTS PRECAUTION? Ten years ago the warnings were offered but the short term costs made the "bean counters" fear those costs - they eat into the profits and they are much more important, apparently? A humorous video satire on the BP oil spill - pity that the real spill was not coffee? Are we JTL already? - Arctic sea ice at its lowest for thousands of years. Presumably it will get less as we create more wasted energy with more UNNECESSARY light at night wasting that energy, apparently? Scenic America - digital billboards may make driving more dangerous by adding to driving distractcions like audio, GPS, eating and drinking, smoking and mobile phones? Glad I don't drive in the USA - its more like Blade Runner now than ever, apparently? India at Night - getting to be like Europe, Japan and the USA. Just wait until China joins in and wastes even more energy, lighting the bums of birds? A search for the URL of China imaged at night yielded this set which includes hi-res images of the Earth, including both India and China NOW! The comment in the image of the whole Earth at night is interesting - when India and China has more street lights to echo its population density, imagine just how bright they will be at night - joining in with profligate energy waste that we "enjoy" today in the West to prove our economic wealth? Ceremonies of Light and Dark: The real Earth at Night - a lecture to the Royal Geographical Society about environmental inequality. As my friend Colin Henshaw said in 1994, light pollution, caused by unnecessary light at night, is a "green" issue and environmentalists should be speaking out about its inequalities and its "hidden" harm. Surely we will face no more than a palliative future? (Apparently?) Cancer deaths to double - remember that we have already told people that UNNECESSARY light at night increases cancer risk? Learn more HERE. Please tell your utility/council, that if that light on the street outside your bedroom causes you cancer, that you WILL sue! And mean it? Please do not let ignorance lead to a future failure driven by tolerant complacency - this once lead to the problem with smoking and lung cancer. Follow ICROL and its education of the "hidden" concerns WRT to modern Digital Electronic Billboards. Night time lighting and crime - some of the issues? And there is more - the UK magazine Country Life discusses light pollution blighting the night sky. You have heard all of this before and still no-one listens. For goodness sake - WHY? Read the CfDS disucussion pages on street lighting and crime HERE. It is not just me, the CfDS and the IDA who are critical of unnecessary light at night. There are many others - and another is HERE - Turning Night Into Day! What beautiful aurora over eastern USA from space but what God awful LP/LAN and what a waste of energy and money on the ground below? I guess many city dwellers just didn't see this aurora because of the LP? Have a look HERE at Istanbul by night (or is it day?) and HERE for Beijing. And there's more - Moscow at night HERE - Tokyo at night HERE - Paris at night HERE - Shanghai at night HERE - Osaka Bay at night HERE - It is a pity that the ISS crew did not take any pictures during World Earth Hour - I asked that they should but was told that it could not be done - never could understand why and yet I got the same answer from NASA last year as well? Perhaps the WWF Sydney, Australia should ask for next year, 2011? Why don't YOU write NASA and ask them YOURSELVES for photos of cities SWITCHED OFF FOR WORLD EARTH HOUR 2011? A story from Seattle, USA and Calgary. Canada, from 2002 - Calgary "Saw the Light" and turned them off (page5, top RHS)and now saves $2 million per year, each and every year and more as electricity prices rise. They saw that it is perverse to be "Blinded by the Light?" BTW the CfDS produced its handbook in 2009, explaining why unnecessary light at night is a bad thing! Moreover the International Dark Sky Association explains why lighting may actually aid criminality and why light at night is bad. An old warning from the EPA "from 1979" the problem however is that tolerant complacency remains the watchword of the EPA - wait until you have to do something before you do anything? - Many species depend on dark night skies for good health, and in some cases, for their very survival. Artificial night lighting of the sky has been documented to negatively affect a variety of birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish, insects, and plants. Evidence consistent with expected effects of global warming - the Mediterranean Sea is getting saltier, hotter. Of course it is hardly a surprise that it is getting saltier - if it is hotter there will be more evaporation - but where will that evaporated water precipitate? Will it give tise to floods elsewhere? Lights OUT on French roads cuts accidents by 30%! So if this happems in France is the same true elsewhere? US Utility company prosecuted for killing birds in Honolulu, Hawaii - how many more will follow - maybe BP with the Gulf of Mexico oils spill? Another town Hartington, joins Flagstaff, Arizona, saving energy, cutting costs and reducing the "hidden" harm of unnecessary light at night. Drought forced a town in Chile to do this in 1994 - they reduced lighting costs by 50% but LP reduced by 95% by pointing the lights at the ground where the light was needed. In short they got rid of unnecessary and vanity lighting - simple, huh! I hope that Hartington sees an increase in tourism revenues? Apparently this happened in Chile? Phys Org - As the ice melts Greenland is rising - about 1 inch per year. All part of the accelerating picture of climate change getting worse - maybe a JTL scenario, apparently? The seas will be "fishless" by 2050, apparently? But then I do not like fish - what should I care. If no-one else cares then why should I bother. However I do bother with the profligacy, waste, and lack of understanding of the human race, apparently? What beautiful aurora over eastern USA from space but what God awful LP/LAN and what a waste of energy and money on the ground below? I guess many city dwellers just didn't see this aurora because of the LP? Have a look HERE at Istanbul by night (or is it day?) and HERE for Beijing. And there's more - Moscow at night HERE - Tokyo at night HERE - Paris at night HERE - Shanghai at night HERE - Osaka Bay at night HERE - It is a pity that the ISS crew did not take any pictures during World Earth Hour - I asked that they should but was told that it could not be done - never could understand why and yet I got the same answer from NASA last year as well? Perhaps the WWF Sydney, Australia should ask for next year, 2011? Why don't YOU write NASA and ask them YOURSELVES for photos of cities SWITCHED OFF FOR WORLD EARTH HOUR 2011? When I read this title "What's Blocking The Sun?" my curiosity suspected volcanic ash particles and even maybe aviation con-trails - but NO - it's actually a story about photo voltaic cells. Interesting. Folks who know this web site will know that I advocate electric vehicles - EVs! A student of a friend of mine at MIT has proposed that EV battery packs in America carry the "made in the USA" label. EVs charge at night and can thus reduce the need for UNNECESSARY street lighting to satisfy base load demand? Life dying in Africa's Lake Tanganyika - it will only be a concern if life dies in LA? This is an interesting story because whatever the cause it is the human race that is to blame, apparently? BTW the 24 hour day of the modern human race is already killing off Life On Earth. So - what else is new? Told you so - but this time it is the BBC who are saying it - Night time creatures "in crisis"! A letter to the JBAA from Colin Henshaw said so in 1994. Washington Post - Global warming cooking lizards. So save the world's lizards by reducing global warming, conserving energy, reducing CO2 emeissions by turning off UNNECESSARY lights at night which are wasting energy - you save money too! Every little helps. Gas drilling in the easstern USA - the 24 hour day, 365 days of the year - killing off nocturnal life at night (perhaps)? The destruction of life and lifestyle is not just a result of oil spills, like that currently in the Gulf of Mexico. So you do not believe in climate change and global warming - the Antarctic had the warmest year in 2009. Surprise, surprise, apparently? Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK with more than 45,500 new cases diagnosed each year. The precise reasons why a woman develops the disease are still unknown. But did you know that "shift work" was a possible carcinogen? Shift work is only possible with LAN - a well known waste of energy, money and resource - a lose, lose scenario, apparently? Please do not forget that we need Zero Carbon cars that charge their batteries at night - especially if we conserve energy, do not waste it and manage what we need intelligently - sadly the politicians cannot understand this imperative, so we will be JTL, apparently? Breast cancer - The precise reasons why a woman develops the disease are still unknown. Please do not forget that Guidance for the reduction of obtrusive lighting. From the UK's ILE . Thanks guys. Just watched Joanna Lumley "In the Land of the Northern Lights"seeing the Aurora Borealis from northern Norway (BBC2 TV 6 :15pm UK, Monday 29 Dec 2008 and only for 7 days on iPlayer) You will see the aurora some 48-49 minutes into the programme. Just fantastic. A life long ambition. Sad that others just see Aurora "Bognor Regis", like Sir Patrick Moore who lives in Selsey. Dr. John Mason says this in his LP video. Others just see light pollution/light at night - LAN/LP. Sad, very sad that kids cannot see real stars (and aurora) and believe them only to be SFX. In the Dark about Light Pollution? Get enlightened. From 2007 but still good. Does architectural lighting contribute to breast cancer? So if it does don't unnecessarily light buildings at night and hence help to reduce global warming. Absolutely NOTHING to do with LP/LAN and environmentalism. I have just watched a FAME reunion programme on UK Channel 4 TV. Fantastic - everyone can live forever. How sad that our future now is so compromised? "Climate change will increase concentrations of tropospheric ozone,... which would increase morbidity and mortality,..." So help reduce global warming by turning OFF unnecessary light at night.New Year Resolution idea? Turn OFF unnecessary lights and maybe help to stop Himalayan village global warming and their glaciers melting back? German Innovation - Street Lighting By SMS - neat huh? Swiss glaciers in full retreat - BBC News. So slow global warming by turning OFF unnecessary lights. IL Criminal Justice Information Authority did an extensive investigation, discovering that increased light is responsible for increased crime of all types. So HORS 251 really is a load of rubbish/garbage? Light Pollution - What's The Problem? Brian May's "very good friend" tells the story. Light pollution - its "hidden" harm? The 9th European Dark Sky Symposium, 17th - 19th, September, 2009, Armagh Observatory, Northern Ireland. California At Night - A massive waste of energy and light (and money$$$$). Global Warming Might Cook Up Too Many Male Fish...a rise of 7 Fahrenheit degrees predicted by some (climate change) models for the end of the century would yield three males for every female, a ratio unfavorable for maintaining populations. - So reduce waste energy which contributes to global warming by turning OFF unnecessary light at night.Location, location.... The best places for astronomy in the UK. The Consequences of Light at Night? Colin Henshaw's Notes now on Facebook. Hope at last? Obama picks global warming expert as chief scientific advisor. Find the nearest hydrogen filling station for your future hydrogen EV hybrid? U.S. Cities spur action on climate change - WEH 28th March 2009 Canada kills its future ecology? The tar sand environment goes and "the most destructive fossil-fuel project on the planet" destroys our planet's future? British Euro MEP, Chris Davies takes dim view on light pollution. Moreover Europe is to carbon capture to reduce CO2 emissions. Join Linda Nicholes in an EV 21st century? Use overnight "base load electricity" to power YOUR electric vehicle and do not waste energy creating light pollution - neat huh (and oh so simple)? The skies over Utah parks are threatened? Just more stupidity by Government. Let's reduce light pollution in 2009? A very good idea for International Year of Astronomy 2009. Arctic ice melting at alarming rates? So switch off unnecessary LAN? Keep lights on at night, waste more energy and add to polar melting. "Apparently " 2 "trillion" tonnes of Arctic ice has melted "prematurely" since 2003:NASA. The Pennsylvania Outdoor Lighting Council. Promoting GOOD outdoor lighting. "light pollution is not really a pollution " This question was asked of an Internet search engine - it got this response HERE I hope that the person making this inquiry got a worthwhile answer? "Understanding Skyglow" ILE environmental document of understanding...........? Professor Gerhard Eisenbeis (Rich and Longcore, page 283)- 'Insects are sucked out of habitat areas (by LAN) as if by a vacuum, which may deplete local populations (of insects)....... Kolligs(2000) (this URL link does not access the reference itself - sadly none exists) found that the insects captured on each side of the greenhouse (studied) reflected habitat conditions on that side, providing evidence of the "vacuum cleaner" effect.' - Please realise that LAN/LP is maybe harming us, our environment and maybe compromising our long term future? Sadly, if we are not JIT we may well be JTL? Obama left with little time to cure global warming - Then how about turning off unnecessary lights to help? Common birds in decline."Since 1967 the average population of the common birds in steepest decline has fallen by 68 percent; some individual species nose-dived as much as 80 percent. All 20 birds on the national Common Birds in Decline list lost at least half their populations in just four decades." Wow - you don't say, nothing new there then and LAN had nothing to do with it? Frankly I don't believe it. Power blackouts could "blight" the UK - SKY NEWS. BTW I said this ~ 2 years ago. Light Pollution (The Video) - What's the problem? Download from Queen's Brian May web site. U.S. Cities to Spur Action on Climate Change by Going Dark for WWF’s Earth Hour 2009. Now you're talking!Calif. adopts tough greenhouse gas restrictions Good old Arnold? London to join Earth Hour 2009 says Boris Johnson. Nice one Boris, Ken could not ne bothered this inspite of my invitations. At least Boris has responded. IYA 2009 video telecom kick off Thursday 11th December 2008. Join in and air your thoughts? Poland - WEH - World Earth Hour set to be largest climate event in history? IUCN warned October of extinctions. More warnings from Poland, Wednesday, 10 December 2008. Obama vows to end global warming DENIAL after talks with Al Gore Fat chance - given the power of BIG OIL, BIG COAL AND BIG INDUSTRY? None know the meaning of the word sustainablity - the only word that they know is PROFIT aka greed? Climate change is "unequivocal, .. already happening, and is caused by human activity." Washington Post, 9 December 2008, 9:46 am. So turn OFF unnecessary light at night and REDUCE global warming caused by YOU? Think before it's JTL - Just Too Late. The Lighting Police are helping and so too does Need-Less! From National Geographic - This bulb will save planet Earth? And don't create LAN! A new video about light pollution at Starry Night Lights. Light pollution harms NOT JUST astronomers? An ANT tells the story of light pollution - what great sadness that we lose so much? "Greenhouse gases increase in the USA" - Bush fails - once again? Human degradation of the environment has the potential to stall planetary evolution?More harm to be done to the environment in the USA? NOTHING to do with LP/LAN More Light, More Crime: Chicago. Old news from 2000 but still relevant? Report HERE. Could Our Lights Actually Go Out......? If you are a media journalist wanting further information about LP/LAN and environmental issues of import then click HERE. Climate "juggernaut" marches on? -- huge droughts and floods, cyclones with increasingly more destructive power, pandemics of tropical disease, dramatic decline of biodiversity and increasing ocean levels," said Polish Environment Minister Maciej Nowicki. NATURE's brightest creatures not a match for light pollution? The Thai video of them. Al Gore: First ever political/"presidential" address on light pollution, LP/LAN! Climate change "tipping point" is fast approaching - and politicians remain "deaf"? Everything is "cracking" up? Antarctic Wilkins Ice Shelf due to collapse imminently? The Earth's "lungs" are moving towards their last gasp? News out now that deforestation in the Brazilian rain forest is up about 4 percent. Do the math in the USA and the maths in the UK and at this rate in ONLY 5 years deforestation will be at 20 percent. How fit would YOU be with 20 percent of your lungs gone? Endangered night skies: Light invades Utah's night skies. Salt Lake Tribune. Copied from the Astronomy 4 Kids page - This "hot" news from the Outdoor Lighting Forum (the OLF) of the USA. Tiffany Zambrano and Alexis Guerrero report on YouTube (from Alexis's house) on LP, light pollution, and EH, Earth Hour upcoming 8pm thru 9pm, 28 March, 2009. Clear skies. "We must not repeat the mistakes of the past,"advise given to Barak Obama.The coal, used to create the electricity which is WASTED creating LP/LAN, costs 360,000 million Euros annually. And YOU pay for it! It is now clearly shown that the total annual light energy loss is expected to be well over 1 billion US dollars per year world-wide. Just in BUT one year old - page 14, Order of the Earth, Green Youth Corner:Light Pollution "Though common, the assumption that light pollution only poses a danger to aesthetic beauty and the view through a few telescopes, is incorrect. The adverse effects of light pollution range from health problems in humans to devastating environmental damage." So now you know. The Garden of Eaden - A horticulturalist agrees with Colin Henshaw and I? If you have been to this site before you will know that I have supported Earth Hour since it started 2 years ago. The WWF are having World Earth Hour 2009 - EH 2009 - watch their video HERE. Some Effects of Artificial Lighting On Wildlife and do you know what? Nocturnal animals are likely to be disturbed by bright illumination and deterred from using established foraging and breeding areas. Nothing new there then? Will US President-Elect Barak Obama persue the truth? Try this for size - 'The City "Domes" of Wasted Energy Which Should Be Charging Our EVs?' Will his policy advisors agree? I certainly hope so! This is old news BUT no-one listened then (2003) and no-one listens now? "As the stars fade from view, a growing body of research suggests that excessive exposure to artificial night light can alter basic biological rhythms in animals, change predator-prey relationships, and even trigger deadly hormonal imbalances in humans." How Arctic melting will help shippers and oil companies (but not polar bears)? FALSE AURORAS: Warning: Not all northern lights are aurora borealis. Consider the following display of "false auroras" over Ambler, Pennsylvania, on Nov 19th. Fireflies in decline? Nothing new there then. Colin Henshaw predicted this (and much more) 15 years ago. Protecting the night sky above the Lower Wisconsin - neat huh? Wisconsin Journal - "I remember once when someone said, 'You know the view would be better if those clouds weren't up there,' " Zumm recalled. "I said, 'Dude! Those aren't clouds. That's the Milky Way!' " The stuff of dreams for the webmaster here in the UK? You heard it here first. House sparrows plummet 68% BBC TV 20-November 2008. If you read Dr. Kate Vincent's research you can learn more BBC TV today 19-Nov-2008. I have just heard that 3 big USA car companies are looking for a "bail out"? The reporter described them as "not paying attention to innovation" or words to that effect. May I remind folk that GM had the EV1 10 years ago. It is NOT that they failed to innovate - instead they became complacent and didn't bother to support innovation? With the EV1 charging at night, with unnecessary lights switched off you wake up to a car that does not pollute when you commute and power station engineers happy? Read that we should charge our EVs at night and switch off LAN? WEH - World Earth Hour is upcoming next March 2009. Someone today in the Philippines did a SEARCH and came back to this web site to view the Sydney EH composite from 2007 - neat huh? BTW If you read below that I am concerned that we do not conserve, that instead we waste profligately, how about this for a new story? Water will be in short supply by 2080. Maybe I will be dead but my relatives will not. Am I stupid or what? Why do we always hear discussion of energy provision? We waste far too much anyway - why do I not hear of conservation, conservation and more conservation? Switch off unnecessary lights at night - don't cause unnecessary LAN. Blinded by the Light? A handbook explaining some of the concerns which surround the 24 hour day caused by light at night -LAN. This is the frontispiece to the CfDS handbook which is now in pre-print. It is hoped that publication will appear soon - in the New Year at the latest. Scots urged to see the light in campaign for "dark sky parks"! The truth behind Britain's bright night skies. China's coal fires belch fumes, worsening global warming? BBC TV Wild China-Tibetan glaciers are melting (Sunday 16-Nov-2008). Sadly they are melting faster than they used to! Fires today in California - gosh? We wonder why? Irony! The NG November 2008 is unhappy with LAN. The New Yorker was unhappy last year! California has got it? Global warming is real and seas WILL rise. Schwarzenegger! Destruction of the future starts HERE - "The USA pursues drilling off Virginia". LAN kills bugs, birds, bats and many other animals. Now we see the onset of more harm WITHOUT regulation? I see a situation developing here like the money markets. When will the environment go into "meltdown"? UN puts a different "spin" on the modern "brown-out"? We used to have this when I was a kid - only we called them "pea-soupers" or London fogs etc. Streetlights and driving - "Light from ... street lights makes it harder for you to see the road ahead." So now you know that street lighting does NOT make it safer to drive at night? Very curious. Humans losing the battle against global warming and climate change: IEA?  Homer Glen leads the World and its City Fathers AgreeThis page section is under development but it shows residents and leaders of Homer Glen, a village in the conurbation of the city of Chicago, in Illinois, USA. Debra Norvil (cream jacket) has got back the names of folk in the picture line up to me (see caption details below). Homer Glen joined in with the rest of the World to attempt to make energy saving and sustainability a tangible reality. Homer Glen followed Sydney, Australia on the 1st birthday of Earth Hour 2007 to attempt to draw attention to the extent to which we WASTE energy every day and night. A 24 hour day problem in this global village? San Francisco ended with the Golden Gate having its floodlights turned off but the roadway lights, of course, were left illuminated. In short Home Glen turned off UNNECESSARY lighting which is all that EH (Earth Hour) is all about. I am looking forward to WEH next year, 2009 (World Earth Hour, 2009). Tell YOUR city fathers that if their township didn't join in then they will be responsible for future failure. Homer Glen made the effort this year and will continue to do so. Will your city leaders do the same? Picture figure captions - L to R: Illinois Lt. Governor Pat Quinn, Homer Glen Mayor James Daley, Homer Glen Trustee Russell Knaack, Homer Glen Trustee Margaret Sabo, Debra Norvil, Bob Gent IDA, and IDA Illinois Section Leader At Large Dave Toeppen. LATEST 24 August 2010 HERE - Chicagoland WTTW channel 11. Somehow if others didn't join in this year then I guess that they will not bother next year. Sad isn't it? But it is real nice that Homer Glen knows the way forward. BTW we are now in 2010 - WEH 2009 built on EH 2008 and the WWF have their new video for Earth Hour 2010 HERE. Enjoy!
SOCIETY IS UNDER-ESTIMATING ITS EFFECTS !By the time people wake up to its "hidden" effects it will be "just too late"? This quote from Challenge magazine page 20, Summer 2006. Learn more about the problem at http://www.savethenight.eu/Home.html Here you will SEE the nature of this problem! It is much worse than you can ever imagine? We had four UK light pollution petitions! Many are now out of date. Examine, peruse and learn. If you see a need for another petition then please create it. The new one is HERE - http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/switchofflookup/ One web address is here ..... http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Floodlighting/ Another can be found here... http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/starry-night/ And a rural campaign is here http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Streetlighting/sign John Tunnicliffe has added... http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Light-review/ And another here at........... http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/light-pollution/ Whilst these petition links are now out of date I leave them here for information. The latest (March 2008) petition link however concerns Jodrell Bank's Merlin interferometer. The £85 million Government scientific funding cut-back puts Jodrell and Merlin at risk. Don't let Government ignorance fail our future in science. The petition web site is at http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/jodrellfunding/ - please sign up. There is a new book out there titled The Energy Age, by Robert Kyriakides of GENERSYS PLC who are the publisher. This retails at about £13 at B&Q! If you do not know anything about energy then read this book. Energy use, energy abuse and proper energy management are all included in the narrative. I have not read it fully. Watch this space for more. GENERSYS have a web site at www.genersys.com The energy which we waste at night, illuminating the night sky, should be powering our Electric Vehicles. It does not because of corporate incompetence? Please be kind enough to read "The City Domes of Wasted Energy Which Should Be Charging Our EVs" Bill Moore, editor of EV World, has placed a link to this article, archive at EV World HERE.  What is 'Light Pollution'? See here ... LP - THE MOVIE!
NB - Some links below are now 4 years old. If any video links fail then try this CfDS update URL to be found HERE. Enjoy from years ago. BTW nobody listens even today, one decade into the 21st century, after the warning of the 19th century? Light pollution is simply light that is having a bad effect on the environment. You can watch a WMV movie video explaining "The Problem?" by clicking HERE. The major effects are:
The purpose of this websiteLight pollution is unnecessary and can be controlled with very simple measures that cost very little. We aim to show you how YOU can make a difference and how YOU can improve your local environment. Remember that light at night needs to be enough to meet the need, it needs to be where it is wanted and at the time that it is wanted and it needs to be no more than will do the job! Turn off light at night (and at any other time) if there is no need for electric light? Switch it off! Do not waste energy! Do not warm planet Earth! Do not add to global warming! You know it makes sense? Or do you? Please do not be blind to that which you cannot see! The "hidden" effects of LP? This is a life experience for so many politicians - those in our world who are so blind that they WILL not see! The main pointsHere are some points about light pollution and its effects.
Potentially Worthwhile Links.....?Brian May is against LP. His Bang Universe web site is here - http://www.banguniverse.com/questions-and-answers The IDA is here -.... The CfDS is here .......... http://britastro.org/baa/content/view/168/2/ You can learn about Bob Mizon of the CfDS here.......... http://www.flamsteed.info/fasbobmizon.htm The Campaign to Protect Rural England is here....... http://www.cpre.org.uk/campaigns/landscape-and-beauty/light-pollution/light-pollution-your-area.htmLightPollution.org is here (in Croatia/Hungary)....(no English translation yet) http://www.lightpollution.org/index.htm
Pierantonio Cinzano is here........... http://www.savethenight.eu/Home.html Prairie Astronomy Club, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA have an LP fact sheet here- http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org/light.htm
Simply browse and enjoy, and then turn OFF your lights! All the best, web site manager Graham Cliff. Manchester University graduate in Physics and Electronic Engineering, 1971. Now a retired Honorary Senior Research Fellow, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester, England. My primary research has been high resolution x-ray microanalysis. One of my significant papers (with colleagues P.E.Champaness and G.W. Lorimer) is "The Identification of Asbestos, J of M, 1976", using what became known as Cliff-Lorimer k factors, from an even more significant yet earlier paper in 1975 (G. Cliff and G. W. Lorimer, J. Microsc., 1975, 103, 203). The controversy surrounding nanoparticles today is coming home to roost. I warned of their long range environmental effects 30 years ago and no-one listened, although MANSA June 2010 has debated their metrology at the NPL, Teddington, London. Proceedings will be provided "soon".
All the rest is history. If you are an historian how about this 3 MB pdf? It includes Sir Patrick Moore's signature on my Wilkins and Moore "Handbook for Telescope Making", Tony Bradshaw with his "REAL" telescope at Jodrell Bank and an image of ME with Tony's scope on the ADAS observatory roll-off roof, before light pollution wrecked astronomy in Timperley! Astronomy Now used it May, 1992. Small world isn't it?David Eicher used the same image as a front page cover on one of his books years ago (the other picture here is from my video projector's intro screen shot. I am standing on a TV weather map in the Albert Dock, Liverpool, England. My jacket I bought in Salt Lake City, after my wife photographed me in a book store holding David Eicher's book with my image on its front cover). The store in Salt Lake City had a Wilson's Leather shop. The store with David Eicher's book sold telescopes. I hope that Salt Lakers patronize these stores. BTW the guys in the B&W photo of 4 (now aged) astronomers are me, Colin Henshaw (co-discoveror of Supernova 1987A ), Robin Scagell, Vice President of the SPA and Gresham Professor Ian Morison of Jodrell Bank, Radio Telescope Observatory, University of Manchester, England). If you have bothered to read to here then look at Graham, Colin and Fred Talbot, when they were only 18 in 1968 in the pdf HERE! Enjoy it, if you can, in this unsustainable, light polluted, badly managed world! Sad that I am so cynical, isn't it? Can anyone offer me sustainable hope for our future? I added this 1.5MB pdf image to add to my "ego", which of course I do not have(?). I appear in 1994 with academic colleagues at the inauguration of the Lehigh 300kV STEM/AEM which achieved atom analysis resolution in 1996, a year later than I predicted in Boston in 1992 when I received the MAS/EMSA Presidential Award. My wife likes to tell friends that as an electron microscopist and astronomer "I know my place". Have YOUR Photo Opportunity To Have Your Say.A web page Light Pollution photo gallery has been in place now for just over a year(?). Its home page is at http://www.librapix.com/lightpollution/ It has images from activist anti-LP members motivated to bother to take a photo of an LP (or a light energy wastage) problem and to then post it. Not quite a YOUTUBE of LP but then LP is not very dynamic. Some of these photos are worthy of despair and distress. I like(?) numbers 1, 19&22, 45, 48, 59&60 (which are "ironic"), 72, 86, 89 and so on. Please be inclined to post your own. Maybe if you live outside the UK you could ask that a WORLD Gallery be created? You could even create your own. That reminds me - Is there already a World LP gallery site? What is its URL? Please get back if you know of one and I will post it here. Enjoy, or not, as the case may be - more irony. |
