Light Pollution Reflection / Refraction Number 2

Posted on August 8, 2007

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.

MUST I DO EVERYTHING?

Hey, stargeezer, how do I sack light pollution?

Whenever people ask me: �"Hey, stargeezer, how do I sack light pollution?�" I hear my friend's voice responding, oh, so wittily: "Must I do everything? Must I? Well, must I?"

But seriously, and with humility, neither I nor dark sky organizations can show you how to eliminate light pollution where you live. I wish I could propose one simple solution to light pollution, as the slogan on my website suggests, but...

GLANCE at the popular Earth at Night image or movie (5 MB), and it is obvious what does not work: light laws, codes, ordinances. Read Reflection and Refraction number 1.

The dark sky orgs', most prominent solution to light pollution seems to be a lighting law. Yes, lighting laws have their place in any astronomers', arsenal of actions against the SOBs (Satans of Brightness), the light polluters who show no indication they are willing to protect the night sky from their obsession with growth. But, as dr. Fill always declares in his typical Texas two-step drawl: "So, how's that workin', out for ya?" Worse, our opposition, the light pollution predators, already know how to counter and repel this weapon in our dark sky armory.

But as in Nature--where diversity equals liberty--we must evolve, we must mature, we need dozens of different strategies and weapons to fight the SOBs! And we need a constant supply of new and stealthy tactical weapons that will keep our light blight enemies off balance or dare I say it?--in the dark! And we must be less reactive and more pre-emptive, in this light fight, constantly knocking the enemy off guard!

Just as locally grown food tastes best, locally “grown” ideas work best. You know your community and its people better than I do or any dark sky organization. Use that knowledge to your advantage.

Most importantly: Do something! Anything! Get creative! Stop depending on worn out IDeAs that obviously do not work. And don’t give up when you fail the first, second, third, or tenth time. Success rarely arrives with one attempt. It’s all about repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, rep...

The SOBs will not concede or compromise, so why should you? And they're very good at demonizing you or anyone who goes against their Grow Or Die (GOD) religion; they'll make you out to be a drug-soaked hippie, wacko enviro, or more likely, worse, and they'll do it publicly, consistently, and contemptuously! In short, the SOBs don't care one whit about you and your desire for dark skies. All they see is...

$$$$$!

And all the while, privately, behind your back, they'll just laugh wildly about your little watered-down light law. Or they'll just ignore you and pretend that you and your law doesn't even exist. If the lighting laws already enacted were truly doing their job, more than 100 cities and towns and states would already show some sign of change to the dark side. Alas, there is no sign of valid and substantive change; indeed, the night sky is more light soaked than before the laws in almost all the places where the law now exists.

Again, I hear my friend chide me: "Must I do everything? Well, must I?"

Look, there are no fewer than 10,000 amateur astronomers and stargazers out there in dark starved communities all across America who belong to some club, society, organization. And there are likely another 100,000 reclusive, go-it-alone astronomers (like me) out here in our fast fading darkness lurking about our backyards, farms, fields and acreages; our night skies at risk because the obsessed Grow Or Die (GOD) zealots develop continue to develop America's already overdeveloped land and plop down more bright blazing bulbs and big box businesses just to make a few more $$$$ in profit. Greedy SOBs!

So, can you hear it now? "Must I do everything?"

And don't be fooled by the call to replace bad lighting with good lights: I used to be one of those astronomers who advocated for replacing all those nasty old leaky lights, you know, the ones that shine up, out and all about! What was I thinking? Like that'll work! (Well, what can you expect from an old stargeezer other than brain burps!). Even if all of America's millions of leaky lights were replaced tomorrow with full cut-off fixtures and dimmer bulbs your stars and Milky Way would still be extinct!

So, must I DO everything?

I don't really know how to tell you to sack light pollution, or truthfully, if anyone else does, or more to the point, if you really want to put an end to it. I think that's the point here. We are all at fault, all responsible for the America, the world we have made for ourselves. We are all responsible for the light pollution that we've allowed to ruin our night sky, and only we--all of us, not just a few of us--can restore it.

From what I see of most Americans in the year 2007, all they really want is to go about their lives collecting wealth with a "don't bother me about anything" attitude. If the truly BIG and important issues of our time stir so little stew, how can we expect light pollution to muster any real interest and support?

And don't expect the so-called mainstream media (MSM) to be helpful. Remember, the MSM's purpose on Earth is to make a profit for their mostly conservative corporate owners and investors by being corporate cheerleaders for development and corporate boosters for local businesses and chambers of commerce.

If you think or believe otherwise, I have some "great" land on the Moon I want to sell you...call me, we'll talk numbers, and of course, some bigtime nighttime lighting to keep that lunarland secure!!

So, one last time: must I do everything?

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!