Too Much Light For A Starry, Starry Night

0 Comments | Insight on the News, March 15, 2004

Byline: John Elvin, INSIGHT

Too Much Light For A Starry, Starry Night

Ninety-nine percent of U.S. residents live in areas where "light pollution" obscures their view of the stars, according to a report by the Council of State Governments. An increasing awareness of the loss of an ancient connection with the night sky, coupled with energy-efficiency concerns, is prompting serious discussion and legislation at state and local levels.

Among states that have taken action to promote darker skies is New Mexico, whose Night Sky Protection Act requires lights out in parks at 11 p.m. and bans bright mercury vapor bulbs for street lighting. Nine states and more than 200 cities have addressed the problem in one way or another. A law passed in New York state would have allowed citizens to sue for "light trespass" when unwanted light crossed their property lines. Gov. George Pataki, a Republican, vetoed the bill in keeping with opposition from the energy industry. But it has been reintroduced.

In Arizona, every county reportedly has some sort of ordinance aimed at reducing light pollution. After Tucson required hooding of streetlights, the Milky Way obscured from the view of most Americans became visible from downtown. Due to energy savings, costs of the program were recouped within three years.

The International Dark Sky Association, with 10,000 members, is holding a four-day mid-March conference on various aspects of the problem, including security, sports and health aspects of lighting. Though not likely a major campaign issue, the topic certainly lends itself to drama, perhaps tied to the obvious public appetite for space exploration.

The theme even has become the topic of a book for children, There Once Was a Sky Full of Stars. Author Bob Crelin told Connecticut's New Haven Register: "When you look at kids' video games, TV and movies, nighttime is full of monsters and scary things. Where's the innate pleasure of being outside? I remember going out in the yard as a kid, standing in the moonlight and looking up at the stars."

Turning the night into a low-intensity version of day and its effect on nature has caught the eye of environmentalists, who want the sky declared a natural resource. Bright lights interfere with nesting sea turtles and cause trouble for migrating birds, among other problems. The effect on humans also seems a fertile field for study; it's been only in the last 100 years or so that night has not necessarily meant dark. No doubt a good portion of the insomnia epidemic and related ills has something to do with our "illuminated" 24/7 culture.

A Not-So-Small Fortune Lost in Outer Space?

NASA, the federal space agency, has lost track of $58 million in property everything from fancy cameras to big ice-making machines during the last five years, according to an investigation of records by Florida Today newspaper. When all the stuff NASA owns is considered, the amount isn't all that astonishing. Still, it's money out of the American taxpayers' pockets, and it's coupled with what seems a shrug-it-off attitude.

Officials said some of the missing items will turn up; they're just misplaced. The rest of the property might have been trashed or sold off without being recorded. The minimal accountability owes to a lack of funds for tracing missing property and to the absence of a clear policy on taking action against the responsible employees, according to NASA. Of course, the newspaper's interviews and examination of records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act indicated that "responsible employee" might be an oxymoron. In general, the attitude of employees seemed to be one of careless disregard, since the items involved were "only" government property.

In one fairly typical case, an expensive camera just got left behind somehow on a trip to Moscow. Employees on the trip to visit their Russian space-agency counterparts couldn't explain the loss, and their nonexplanation was accepted. That's business as usual; it seems that employee explanations, if any are given, are never questioned.

Another consideration NASA officials offer is that the missing items aren't worth $58 million, anyway. The stuff is used, and the government typically gets nickels and dimes on the dollar when selling off used equipment. And then there's the cost-benefit angle: Why spend a lot of time grilling some high-paid engineer about a missing laptop that's only worth a few bucks? Once upon a time the answer might have been because it's important to take an ethical stand regarding right and wrong, but that issue doesn't seem much of a concern these days.

Who Needs Talking Heads When We've Got Google?

We've probably all read stories where the proof of the popularity of a topic is given as being the number of times it comes up when typed into a search engine. For example, did you know that nation in brief is mentioned more than 4 million times when you do a Google search? What a popular column, eh?

Well, some of us have not only read such stories, we also have written them. Be that as it may, the tactic doesn't hold up well under fire from Lionel Beehner, research editor of the New York Press. "Type in almost any person, place or thing, and Google will bounce back to you a neat numerical value that calculates that person, place or thing's importance in this world," Beehner notes in an article published on the Mediabistro.com Website, adding that Google has emerged as the journalist's best friend and best source.