Light Pollution

[Brookhurst98]

GTO,
I don't talk to people who want to control other peoples property and rights.
The deal is I don't tell them how to live and they don't tell us how to live.
Case closed.

[Citizen Caine]

Originally Posted by Brookhurst98

GTO,
I don't talk to people who want to control other peoples property and rights.
The deal is I don't tell them how to live and they don't tell us how to live.
Case closed.

Wow! So I'm guessing the smooth talking Brookhurst98 is the president of "the association" in question. Does everybody in your fiefdom think the way you do? If so, I can see why you need the lights for security. You might want to consider beefing those lights up and stringing some barbed wire around the place, maybe a guard dog or two. Nobody is trying to control your property or rights. We are merely asking you to be considerate of others, or maybe just give it some thought, something that apparently does not come naturally.

Hey Bluto, um I mean GTO, once you get off Double Secret Probation maybe you should think of running for president. Sounds like it would be a better place without Napoleon98 running things.

[dpg]

What's a Sodium Light?

[Lin]

I cringe everytime someone sets up another bright brilliant unecessary outdoor light. Sometimes they can be just so obtrusive. When our town allowed a light industrial building to expand into residential zoned land one house away from us, their lights (which were not what was in the ZBA/planning board plans approved) literally lit up the inside of our house they were so bad. I did some research and sent off info to the planning board on lighting and light pollution. Our lighting problem was addressed and drastically reduced. They now use information from the sites I'd given them for other projects that come before them now.

http://www.darksky.org

http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/~graff/nelpag.html

[madrasahs]

Originally Posted by dpg

What's a Sodium Light?

It's a relatively large, efficient light fixture with a low wattage requirement. The Sodium-vapor light puts out an orangy light. A similar light, the Mercury-vapor light puts out a white light. Both are most often a stand-alone fixture, mounted high.

Across the water here, I see a neighbor who has one of each. One illuminates his four Jet-Skis at the shore and the other illuminates the "Railroad Crossing" sign at the back door.

I once lived in a city where the night sky was entirely orange -- for fifty miles -- from Sodium-vapor street lights. Planet Venus could be distinguished, but most of the stars were obliterated except for Betelguese.

You'd think that our regional power outage this summer would have made the sky "clear" again, but no. The McMansions' emergency lighting engages whether there's anyone home or not, and the stars go away again.

It's been forty years since I could walk home from a Winnipesaukee neighbor's, guided only by "Starshine" -- the light from the stars. We've become citified.