I jumped out of bed this morning thinking that I've seen and heard everything that there is to see and hear. Lo and behold I was greatly mistaken.
This 'dark skies' movement is the stupidest damn thing ever concocted by anyone!! Where in the hell do these idiots come from? Maybe it's time to create the 21st century of a 'reservation' for these nutbags. This way they can live in the dark, eat veggies, run naked, befriend wild animals and whatever else that fits into their way of thinking. They could then leave the rest of us normal 'I would like to see were in the hell I'm going' folks alone!! I am sooooo sick of phucking morons trying to impose their earth friendly save the whales lifestyle on me.

I'm in residential lighting and a lot of the mfgr's are on board with this. A number of the new catalogs have a section of dark star fixtures. Some outdoor lights have inserts that will redirect the light downward. Some of them use the term "light trespassing" with illustrations showing fixtures illuminating their neigbhors houses. The American Lighting Assoc. is fighting the al whore "everybody (but me)needs to use fluoresent bulbs" but they seem to agree with the dark star stuff.

It sure is nice to get to a place to see the sky in its true form, but damn - its also nice for us city slickers to live like non-primitives in safe, well lit cities.

I lived on the Big Island of Hawaii for many years. There, low amber lighting is used, but for a very good reason. The white light interferes with the numerous telescopes atop Mauna Kea.

I think you are overreacting. Do you remember the night sky when you were young? It's not the same any more. I cannot see the little dipper from my home in Macomb county any more. It's sad really.

Dear Debbie,

Regarding your comments on lighting�

We have a rational tradition of shielding or diffusing indoor lighting to reduce glare. Indoor lighting environments have multiple reflections off of adjacent surfaces that raises average light levels to the point that the iris constricts and protects the retina from over exposure.

However, we have an irrational tradition of not shielding outdoor lighting. Direct light from unshielded high intensity discharge lighting is counterproductive in that it creates disability glare that makes vision more difficult. Against a black night background that prevents the iris from constricting, unshielded HID lighting is unnaturally intense on the retina.

While coming around a bend in the road in my neighborhood one night, my view of the road around the bend was blocked by a brilliant and unshielded post top mounted luminaire that must have just been relamped. The shield of disability glare subsided as I drew even with the light source and I could then see a boy on a skate board about two inches off of my left fender. I would have seen him much earlier if the luminaire had been shielded. This was counterproductive lighting that caused my heart to skip a beat and almost caused a life altering event.

HID lighting emits seven to ten times as much light per watt as incandescent lighting. The three forms of HID lighting are mercury vapor, high pressure sodium, and metal halide. HID lighting was developed to illuminate large areas economically.

The three forms of light pollution are disability glare, light trespass, and sky glow. All three are caused by the same un-shielded lighting.

IDA and IESNA are working to educate the public about the advantages of low glare lighting in improving visibility at night. Unfortunately too many people believe there is not much to know about lighting and that more is always better. I have a power point presentation entitled Smart People Dumb Lighting that explains much of the science of lighting application. I can send you a copy if you would like.

The four rules of good lighting practice for HID lighting are:

1. Shield the source so that it does not reduce our ability to see reflected light.

2. Use the amount of light recommended by the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America for specific applications.

3. Keep the light on your property. No one has the right to shine unwanted light onto someone elses property or onto public right of ways.

4. Point the light down. We all have the right to enjoy seeing the stars at night.

My goal and the goal of all lighting engineers is to provide elegant, attractive, and effective nighttime lighting to all communities by reducing light pollution in its three forms.

Regards,

Larry Boros P.E.
Member the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America
Member the International Dark Sky Association
Former lighting development engineer General Electric Lighting
Welding Engineer NASA Glenn Research
President Alamarra Inc

Is this a joke? These enviro nuts are certifiable.

Hold It. "International Dark Sky Association." ?? Should read "Progressives for a darker tomorrow" and it would be true.

Apparently some folks mistakenly equate low glare lighting with low lighting levels. Low glare lighting generally emits the same amount of light but increases visibility by shielding the source.

In areas of the country where major astronomical observatories are located, local accommodations are made to limit sky glow by limiting the amount of up lighting from direct emissions and from ground reflections. There are very few areas in the world where astronomy is not affected by sky glow. Directly radiated sky glow from unshielded lights wastes billions of dollars in electrical energy lighting up the sky. That light would do a lot more good pointed down.

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