The Curse of Light Pollution

• Way too many empty parking lots are lit all night long for no reason; keep a couple of lights on inner parking lots near buildings, perhaps, but turn most of those lights off "after hours"! Business lighting (particularly that of single-store sites, as compared to malls, and of gas stations) is very frequently much too bright, and frequently points out dangerously into adjoining streets and wrongly into neighboring properties.

• Homeowners and business owners/managers should be good neighbors, turning out lights at night whenever possible, as a courtesy to residents (trying to sleep, or perhaps even view the stars from their front porch or backyard!) and as a safety courtesy to those motorists, pedestrians, or bicyclists who might happen by. Homeowners should never install unshielded driveway or porch lights that cast bright, glary light into the street or onto neighboring properties; if such fixtures exist, replace them or place shields on them so that their light goes downward, not outward off of your property. Spotlights should be directed downwards, not outwards (and shielded), and signs should be lit from above (not from below or within).

• Do not be afraid to tactfully ask your neighbor or nearby business to shield (or re-direct) their lights, if those lights are shining onto adjacent streets or properties; it is their moral (and often legal) responsibility to do so. Many (perhaps even most) communities have bylaws or ordinances that prohibit nuisance lighting (just as there are such edicts to prohibit nuisance noise, leaf-burning, etc.); if your community does not have such a bylaw or ordinance, we can help you with useful information to use in enacting such an ordinance or bylaw (see samples below).

• Legislation is being enacted at an increasing rate across the USA, both at the local and state levels, to mandate that publicly-spent money be used more wisely in the case of outdoor lighting (for full-cutoff, lower-wattage fixtures), so that more money is available for much more urgent things (police, fire, education) and for tax cuts!

• A recent article in PUBLIC POWER (March-April 1997, p. 20) relates, "Fred Dickey, a lighting specialist for General Electric, said there is a direct correlation between roadway glare and traffic accidents"; Dickey adds, "A bright light could blind drivers and create an accident situation a little farther down the road." In fact, many (most?) streets with roadway lighting do not need any lighting at all; well-painted lines on streets and good highway (directional) signage are usually all that is needed to ensure roadway safety (except perhaps at dangerous intersections, where proper lighting can be a help). [We also need to lobby auto makers and government officials to get the new, overly-bright and dangerous halogen headlights on cars to be re-designed so that they point down and away from on-coming motorists.] But always show the courtesy to others that you expect from them when approaching neighbors, businesses, or government officials to replace bad outdoor lighting with good lighting.

• You can compile a list of the best and worst lighting in your local community, and distribute it via your local newspaper so that people can be drawn to think about good versus bad lighting. An example of such a list for Lexington, Massachusetts, is available here.

• While society has seemingly trained non-astronomers to be afraid of the dark, there is in fact little or no proof that adding street lights will decrease crime in most areas (with the possible exception of some troubled inner-city locations) --- and numerous studies suggesting the opposite (that outdoor lighting increases crime) are available. Most crime occurs in the daytime, anyway. Urban and suburban people have lost touch with their environment, and do not realize that the nighttime without artificial lighting under clear skies is actually quite bright! But one must go to a dark place and allow one's eyes to become dark-adapted (usually 20-30 minutes at least) to see that this is true.