Light Pollution Reflection / Refraction Number 10

Posted on April 5, 2008

WARNING:

I guarantee my reflections and refractions will create controversy and confrontation; and quite likely I'll step on many toes, but it's time to be brutally honest. So, if you are thin-skinned proceed accordingly--take your hand off the mouse and back away from the computer.

What's The NRA Got To Do With It? Part 2 of 2

Note: Please read part 1 before wading into part 2.

LIGHTS OUT!

A realistic approach? Not by the IDeAs standards. But have you noticed, the NRA does not compromise, and gun ownership continues to climb every year in America. More about LIGHTS OUT! later, the essence of a future R & R.

Have you ever engaged an NRA member in conversation. Not shy or withdrawn is s/he? NRA members tend to be very vocal. Start a conversation about gun control in any mixed group, and I promise--any and all NRA members present will speak out--loudly, firmly, vociferously, forcefully. Listening to them, you'd think the entire Constitution of the United States had been rescinded, burned, and the ashes sent to the moon. It's like pinching a sleeping baby on a long, nighttime, transoceanic flight: the wailing starts immediately and is guaranteed to get intense attention.

Do we astronomers believe in our dark sky cause with the same passion, fire and zeal as NRA members? Not bloody likely. NRA members don't just bellyache about issues that affect them, they fight as if their lives depend on it.

Do astronomers? In a sense, your life as an astronomer depends on dark skies. Take it from a lifelong astronomer no longer able to observe, struggling to remember memories of those Good Old Nights before my own personal "darkness" began closing in on me. The galaxy looks completely different now; in fact, at times my life DOES seem to depend on remembering those Good Old Nights seated behind the scope under relatively dark skies!

WHY DO NRA MEMBERS OPPOSE GUN CONTROL?

I've talked with and listened to present, past and perhaps a few future NRA members about the 2nd Amendment and gun ownership. Obviously, most of them are very opposed to gun control. Why? Multiple reasons. But my conversations revealed one shared reason: gun owners fear gun control in all its forms because they fear the sudden and complete confiscation of their guns. For whatever reason--rational reasoning, obsession, fear, anxiety, paranoia, etc.--gun owners are often very wary of gun control; and worse, whether perceived or otherwise, the lose of their RIGHT to own guns.

So, as an astronomer (or even a nonastronomer), how do you feel about losing the night sky to light pollution? Imagine you are an NRA member about to have your guns confiscated! Imagine the stark dread you'd feel about losing your right to own guns.

Now translate that feeling of dread to yourself as an astronomer and the seizure of both YOUR dark skies and your RIGHT to have dark skies by forces beyond your control. That scenario is happening right now, RIGHT NOW, by the Powers That Be, the "owners" of your community. These thugs are nothing more than apologists for the growth and development industry. They sit on the seats of power, shackled to growth, development and economic "progress," and they are rewarded for their thuggery.

DEVELOPMENT OCCURS BECAUSE THERE ARE DEVELOPERS!

Was Shakespeare wrong about lawyers??

Believe me, if you think the NRA and its lobbying arm are strong, you've never seen the all out, "shock and awe," assault power of the development thugs! They make the NRA and their puny 4 million members look like naive children. Indeed, perhaps the dark sky orgs should start using the strategies and methods of the growth and development industry!

What will you do to rescue darkness? We are all angry about it, but being angry isn't enough! It's time to act! Some people don't want to act until the methods used are proven successful. Are these people afraid of failure? YIKES! The whole process of dark sky "activism" now being used is a FAILURE! I'd much rather fail and try something else than just keep failing by doing the same thing over and over and over and over... I won't name names (YET!) but...

What would happen across America if the government or others tried to take away Americans' guns? Would gun owners and NRA members act civilly? Think before you answer that question! Or would mass public protests break out across the country? Would America experience, well, a R-E-V-O-L-U-T-I-O-N?

How would you react if light pollution cloaked and concealed your nighttime sky? What would you do? Oh, wait, aren't the night skies over your backyard already soaked in light? What are you going to do about it? Are you willing to rise up and rebel? Revolt? Create an insurrection? Will passing a local lighting ordinance help? A statewide lighting law? A national light control law? NO! NO! & NO!

In one conversation with an NRA member about light pollution destroying dark skies for millions of astronomers, she responded with: "Yeah, but there's no constitutional amendment about starlight being a right! What you astronomers need is something as powerful as the 2nd Amendment."

LET'S MAKE A DARK SKY AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION!

Would a Dark Sky Amendment pass the U.S. Congress? If so, would it then be ratified by enough states to make it part of the Constitution? Congress seems to suffer from a severe case of constipation right now, and a Dark Sky Amendment would have about as much chance of "passing" as we astronomers have of nullifying the 2nd Amendment! Besides, any light control bill passed by Congress would be deeply watered down, compromised and not retroactive. So, what's the point?

Still, what would such an amendment to the Constitution look like? Here�s a possibility:

"The People shall be guaranteed the right to a dark night sky, over their own property, whether an urban or rural setting, from astronomical twilight after sunset to before sunrise, when the moon is below the horizon, and celestial objects of 6th magnitude or brighter will be visible with normal (20-20) corrected eyesight."

Clearly, no Dark Sky Amendment is likely to exist anytime soon, unless perhaps a Dark Sky Revolution occurs! So...

FIRST, let's adapt and adopt the strategies and techniques of the NRA to fight the SOBs (Satans of Brightness)!

SECOND, grow a pair! Withhold your dues to the IDeAs and stop paying for subscriptions to the glossy astro-mags until they start getting serious about purging light pollution from OUR night sky! My subscriptions to the BIG two, S & T and A, are up soon and they will NOT be renewed! I've had these subscriptions for 33 years now, but I will sacrifice for the cause--will you! Send a message! Send it loud and clear! You're "as mad as Hell and your not going to take this anymore!"

The BIG two need to step up and get serious, both on paper and online. Don't just write a "civil" letter asking (pleading?) for more and aggressive coverage of the light pollution issue; TELL them, no, DEMAND more coverage now. Enough letters pleading for better coverage of dark skies have been written. They've not listened! It's time to demand what we want--the extinction of light pollution, not the extinction of our dark skies!

THIRD, the Constitution is basically unknown. Sadly, very few Americans can name and describe more than one or two constitutional amendments! The NRA "owns" the 2nd Amendment, and we have none. Of course, all humans have a right to the night! What might mobilize and focus our dark sky rally cry? A Dark Sky Pledge?

DARK SKY PLEDGE

You've heard the Pledge of Allegiance thousands of times in your life, and every American recognizes it even if many (most?) can not recite it without help. The Pledge of Allegiance will never (Oops, never say never...) be replaced by a dark sky pledge, but a dark sky pledge could become a stirring call to arms and legs and brains... for astronomers, especially if it were repeated often enough; i.e. millions of times.

How about an advertising campaign? I don't mean more of the same cheesy little 2" by 3" ads the IDeAs have been running forever. Get serious, damnit. Advertise like you mean it, like the NRA does! Again, "From my cold, dead hands!" Like the growth and development industry does! Get creative, advertising does NOT have to be expensive! Again, Must I Do Everything? MIDE!

A Dark Sky Pledge would provide an emotional connection amongst astronomers and provide a clear and concise statement to the public.

So, with no disrespect intended, here's the Dark Sky Pledge I wrote several years ago, which many people tell me is clever with just a touch of wit and humor and most importantly, exactly on target:

I PLEDGE DEVOTION TO THE STARS OF THE MAJESTIC MILKY WAY GALAXY AND TO A DARK NIGHT SKY IN WHICH THEY SHINE; ONE COSMOS, OVERHEAD, CLEARLY VISIBLE, WITH LIBERTY FROM LIGHT AND DARK SKIES FOR ALL.

Will you take the Dark Sky Pledge? I mean will you memorize it and make it a part of your daily life, as we in America are supposed to make the Pledge of Allegiance part of our daily lives.

GIVE THE DARK SKY PLEDGE TO EVERYONE!

Give the pledge to others and persuade them to make it part of their lives. An idea: why not make it a part of every astronomy club meeting and star party...everyone recites the Dark Sky Pledge.

What would happen if every single astronomer / stargazer across America printed it on small cards (business cards are easy and inexpensive to make these days) with the URL of my Web site and passed it out to every single person they encountered 24--7--365.25! That is...

To every mother, father, son, daughter, husband, wife, partner, brother, sister, grandma, grandpa, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew, cousin, acquaintance, friend, ally, enemy, boss, employee, dog, cat, gerbil, fish, frog... Well, you get the point? Of course, don't do this on the boss's time.

If 10,000 astronomers passed out 100 copies of the dark sky pledge to nonastronomers every month, that would be 1,000,000 connections per month! And you don't need an organization to do this! Just do it! There are hundreds of other little, inexpensive, creative things like this you can do every day, no org, no dues, no bureaucracy needed.

Hey, the glossy astro-magazines could print the Dark Sky Pledge in a prominent place on every issue, distributing the pledge to 100s of thousands of astronomers / stargazers monthly!

E-MAIL THE BIG TWO (S & T AND ASTRONOMY) AND DEMAND MORE DARK SKY COVERAGE!

Write the BIG two (S & T and ASTRONOMY) an e-mail and tell 'em to print the Dark Sky Pledge monthly! You pay for the subscription, it's your money! Tell 'em to do something beyond what they're currently doing to eliminate light pollution! Read to the end of this R & R, click on their e-mail addresses and do it right now, while you're still "...mad as Hell and you're not going to take this anymore!"

Well, that's it: a short--yes, it's short compared to earlier versions--survey of meteoric ideas that flashed through my mind whilst contemplating the NRA's ability to control the gun issue in America. Estimates vary, but there may be 250 million guns in America, and about 4 million NRA members! Dark sky success lies along a different path than the one astronomers have been following for years. Together we have power if we'd just use it!

This week a survey found that 80% of Americans believe the country is NOT on the right track! DUH!! If I gave the same survey to astronomers, I bet 70% would say astronomy is not on the right track fighting light pollution and restoring dark skies!

Now... I've got to think you could come up with a whole lot of better thoughts and ideas than Ye Ol' Stargeezer to press forward with all possible dispatch and find more solutions to light pollution.

OK, stand back from your computer screen, I'm arming myself with the biggest, baddest anti-light pollution weapon you've ever seen and I'm gettin' ready to use it!

Send an e-mail to the BIG two demanding better dark sky coverage!

E-mail addresses:

Sky & Telescope: editors@SkyandTelescope.com

Astronomy: letters@astronomy.com

JOIN THE DISCUSSION with your own reflections and refractions. Just click on my e-mail address below and have at it! I will not sell or give your e-mail address to anyone. Your reflections and refractions will be placed under the link to the left labeled "Fan Mail - Hate Mail." I may edit comments I place there, but I will be careful to retain your words wherever possible.

NO EXCUSES! NO EXCEPTIONS! NO COMPROMISES!