Losing sight of the stars

Even before natural gas drilling appeared on our local horizon, development pressures had created a litany of environmental threats that have been the subject of much discussion: water and air pollution, soil erosion, habitat fragmentation and more. But another concern that has received very little attention has surfaced in our newspaper over the past couple of weeks: light pollution.

The allegation that bright lights were kept on all night on the Salinger farm was one of the complaints leveled by Forestburgh neighbors who objected to giving it an agricultural district designation (see “Alpacas, goats and orchids” in the August 28 issue.) And the fear that light from gas drilling operations will obscure the stars is one of the concerns mentioned by organic farmers Neil and Alice Fitzgerald in the first of our Community Conversations series (see page 12).

Light pollution is often ignored, partly because most of us have grown up with it and know nothing else. Even in a rural area like ours, fewer than half the stars that were visible in centuries past can now be seen. Over much of the planet, it never gets dark enough for our eyes to switch to night vision. And at California’s fabled Palomar observatory, astronomical observations by the 200-inch Hale telescope are now hampered by the fact that the night sky on Mount Palomar glows with the lights of surrounding metropolitan areas, even on the darkest night.

The other reason that light pollution is generally ignored is that it is easily dismissed as a purely aesthetic problem. But in fact, a growing body of evidence shows that light pollution has adverse impacts on human and animal health, costs needless billions of dollars, wastes energy—and is actually pretty cheap and easy to mitigate.

With regard to human health, some studies have shown that the disruption of circadian, or 24-hour, cycles by omnipresent artificial light during the night may increase the likelihood of colorectal and breast cancer by disrupting hormone regulation. And lighting up the night also disrupts the breeding cycles and migratory patterns of hundreds of species, from sea turtles to birds, by giving them false light cues, resulting in millions of deaths.

To make matters worse, it’s not as though the wanton spilling of light up into the sky and out across the countryside produces any benefits. A standard cobra-head streetlight, for example, sends 30 percent of the light it produces upwards and sideways. Focus 100 percent of the light down at no more than about a 15 percent angle—optimum for lighting efficiency—and the wattage consumed can be cut accordingly. And studies show that intensely bright lights that glare out sideways can be counter-productive for security. Ironically, they may blind observers, making it more difficult for miscreants to be seen except in certain limited spots.

Alternatives are available: “full-cutoff” lights that cast no light above the horizontal plane and employ a light source that cannot be seen by someone standing to the side. Calgary, Alberta, recently cut its electricity expenditures by more than $2 million a year by switching to full-cutoff, reduced-wattage street lights.

In addition to using full-cutoff lighting (it’s possible to buy shields for existing lights rather than completely new fixtures), municipalities can reduce light pollution by setting up light ordinances. Some local towns, like Bethel, NY, have already done so. Unfortunately, it’s not clear at this point whether such ordinances apply to the gas drilling companies, given all the exemptions set up in the Energy Policy Act of 2005. But it’s certainly worth exploring the question and seeing if any laws can be passed at the state level that would be helpful in this regard.

We believe that there is more than money and energy efficiency at stake. The sight of the night sky has been one of the most profound experiences of the human race for millennia, perhaps the one that has most deeply imbued us with a sense of mystery and awe. To lose the night sky is to lose some of that wonder, and the perception that we are part of an immense and incomprehensibly magnificent whole—not the masters and controllers that we like to fancy ourselves. If the growth of light pollution is left untrammeled, the night sky will soon be reduced to a mirror that reflects back nothing but our own heedless exploitation. For our spirit as well as our health and our pocketbooks, we must take care not to lose sight of the stars.

What you can do

Adopt sky-friendly external lighting

• Use full-cutoff fixtures or shield the bulb on existing fixtures so that light does not shine up into the night sky or horizontally across property lines.

• Use the lowest possible wattage in outside lighting. Little light is needed to move about safely, especially if you let your eyes adjust.

• Turn outside lights on only when there is someone outside. Motion sensors can insure this and are not expensive.

Join the International Dark Sky Association ( www.darksky.org ), originally set up by a group of astronomers “To preserve and protect the nighttime environment and our heritage of dark skies.”

Also in this issue:

• Highway superintendent requires technical expertise

Dr. Punnybone

Moby Duck