Dark Sky Stories
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SAME'S TRAIN BROUHAHA!
SAME's the name of an imaginary town along the banks of two streams.
Surveys say Same's citizens seem happy; but (yaaawn), oh, so sleepy, as about 70 howling horns 'n wailing whistles rail through town each day. Both whistles and sleep are essential.
The train whistle brouhaha first made waves when Same's whistle-blowers blew the whistle on the whistles! The Tribute, a local newspaper, printed letters from a few folks flummoxed by whistle-induced insomnia.
Soon Same was all abuzz with the shrill sound of antiwhistle chit-chat! People clamored for sound solutions to whistle pollution! Officials sought silence. $$$ were quickly found and spent, and soon the whole whistle hooha was history.
Now, nightly whistle noise subsides; but bright, wasteful light survives. Streetlights 'n business lights still shine in bedroom windows, and that ain't fine! Same's citizens surrender sleep, and drivers' eyes squint in stray light at night.
Night lights, like train trumpets, we must keep. But for heaven's sake, please light Earth, not the cosmic deep!
Same's citizens have made a grand start (thanks), but the majestic Milky Way is still concealed in wasteful light. Same's solution to train whistle pollution was simple, a special horn--safe, subdued, sleep-sensitive; and aimed at folks approaching RR crossings, not at citizens seeking R and R.
The solution to light pollution is similar, and lights already exist that aim their glow down on the targets of safety and security (people and property). We call 'em SMART LIGHTS, and they favor Same with dark sky fame.
So, Same's whistle riddle was quickly resolved in just a few short years with money and prerecorded horns. Question: where's the money and muted lights to solve the plight of wasteful light? And let's not overlook this: lusterless light saves 'lectricity, and that adds up to big buckaroos in these days of shockingly bigger bills.
Understandably, Same's business owners must watch their bottom line. I say, "Please keep the nighttime sky dark and mighty fine. Not overnight, but in reasonable time."
By the way, no law or ordinance writ softened the sound of howling trains in Same, and even the Atlantic Onion Corporate, cooperated. But Same's so- called 1999 lighting law maximizes brightness and minimizes enforcement. Worse, it'll never solve Same's blight of bright and wasteful light."
Perhaps we need to stir Abbey's stew, and coax some Same citizens, businesses, too. "Please," we'd say, "Press forward with all possible dispatch toward a quicker solution to light pollution, especially now that energy costs spiral ever higher in revolution."
Is light in your bedroom still cheatin' your sleepin'? Demand change! Businesses without SMART LIGHTS? Tell 'em, "Please, darken the nights!" And when you purchase their products, your bills reach great heights? Think! Why should you pay for all those expensive, excessive lights.
Research says humans and wild critters alike need nighttime darkness to produce a hormone-in the pineal gland called Melaton-in. 'Tis important in the body's defense against breast and prostate cancer.
So Sir and Ma'am, no need for pesky light fights, but please let's get on track, and aim down those glaring night lights. Then get out there and enjoy more starry nights.
Same's students and parents delight with 30 telescopes mighty fine, at Same's High School since two years before 1999. But 'tis exceedingly sad to hear their accounts of vanishing starlight lost in the flood of aimless wasteful light.
Your young folk are unable to see the cosmic wilderness wild and free. So please, again, no light fights, but hey... let's liberate starlight!
Now, some folks might contend...'tis only those starry-eyed 'stronomers that seek the dark 'stead of the light. But wait. Nearly 2000 of Same's streetlights have already been made SMART LIGHTS voluntarily. That means at least 2000 folk agree, starlight is better than streetlight, at least in the sky. Sooo, please take my que: When do we fix all the streetlights on the avenue and business lights too, so Same's dark sky fame is a dark sky view?
From a height of 15 thousand feet over Same, 'tis easy to see wasteful light's flame. It devours darkness, and steals starlight. Imagine Same with SMART LIGHTS all up and down the streets. Then savor the flavor of an eyeful of Milky Way treats.
'Tis time folks, to switch on SMART LIGHTS and save our children's STARRY NIGHTS! Please, just don't light UP!
Sunny Days and Milky Way Nights!
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HOME troegerj@raccoon.com
'TIS A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT!
'Tis a dark and stormy night!
Really!
You are in your family car on a two-lane road that stretches to the horizon. A few cars are approaching in the distance with headlights plainly on high-beam. Yours are on high-beam too. For safety's sake, high-beams are really bright, and shine up, out, and down.
Soon, however, you are near enough to the first car to lower your headlights to low-beam, which shine down. The driver of the oncoming car does likewise. You both know that courtesy compels you to lower your lights. Turning them completely off would not be a safe option! Leaving them on high-beam would be rude!
You safely pass each other and drive on, encountering other approaching cars. Drivers courteously switch their headlights to low-beam and pass safely by. Occasionally, a driver approaches and doesn't lower his/her lights. You are slightly annoyed, but with no malice, no anger, no animosity, no hostility, you politely flick your headlights from low- to high-beam and back again. The oncoming driver instantly "wakes up" and lowers his/her lights, too.
Your journey continues. Suddenly, over the crest of a hill, you approach that rare, unresponsive driver that won't lower his/her lights, even after you flick your's several times. Maybe he/she is drowsy, preoccupied, on the cell phone, or just plain discourteous! You race toward each other, your lights safely downcast; his/hers glaring, blazing directly in your eyes. You pass in the night. Perhaps you utter a salient slogan or two, and drive on. The road and landscape ahead is nearly invisible as your light-soaked eyes slowly return to normal. You have just encountered the two-head(light)ed,high-beam,light monster!
Moral: LOWER YOUR LIGHTS!
Fortunately, most drivers are polite and courteous and automatically lower their lights when approaching an oncoming car. Sadly, there will always be the few stubborn, impolite drivers (light monsters) who rudely keep their lights on high-beam shining up into our eyes and skies.
Sunny Days and Milky Way Nights!
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Jack Troeger *** Milky Way Man *** troegerj@raccoon.com
LIGHTS! CAMERA! ACTION!
You and a friend look forward to seeing an award-winning popular movie. You arrive at the theater, pay, buy popcorn, and go into the theater. The house lights are shining brightly to help you find your way. You find seats and settle in for a great show, passing the time chatting (about astronomy, of course. What else is there!).
Showtime arrives.The house lights are still on, but you assume they'll soon be turned off. Curtains part, commercials play, previews preview, but the lights are still on!
The movie will start soon, and you are becoming concerned. You and others in the theater politely ask management to shut off the house lights. Nothing happens. Indeed, the lights seem a tad brighter!
The movie starts, the music swells and credits roll; but the blasted house lights are still on! Now you are a tad steamed. The STARS of this spectacular production are being introduced, but you barely see them because the house lights are too bright.
You remain relatively calm. With just the tiniest hint of hostility, you politely ask management to lower the lights.
"Hey, no problem," is the response.
But when you return to your seat, you declare the lights are perhaps a little brighter, and the stars are even less visible.
Now, you are outraged! You really want to see this performance, and you can just barely make out the action. You are bitter and angry, but you've committed yourself to being polite and positive in asking management to lower the lights. So, once again, gently, courteously, politely, you tell the management to...
"Please lower the lights."
This time you add...
"Don't turn them completely off; just turn them down so we can enjoy the show."
Response:
"Sure, you bet."
You guessed it, the lights get even brighter!
No matter what you do, no matter how politely you ask, no matter how logical your reasons sound, management absolutely refuses to lower the lights, the entire movie is ruined, and you are extremely unhappy!
Of course, this story is not meant to malign theater management personnel. It is simply an analogy that describes the situation stargazers often encounter when we try to educate some business owners about dark sky issues.
Astronomers and stargazers have been asking the public to lower the lights (not turn them off) with the greatest of patience, perseverance, persistence, and politeness for at least 15 years. The public, city officials, and business owners, nearly everyone seems sympathetic. Many folks respond with statements like, "Sure, you bet." or "No problem."
But most folks simply continue turning up the lights, literally pointing them up in the sky and putting in...
BRIGHTER, and BRIGHTER, and BRIGHTER BULBS!
We must convince the public to use light properly, to create lights that shine down on people and property and with the least amount of light needed to assure safety and security. A well-placed dim light does more for security and safety than "zillions" of bright, wasteful light fixtures!
Once-in-a-lifetime cosmic events like Comet Hale-Bopp in 1996-97 or the Leonid Meteors of 2001 surpass most movies. And the public turns out in lines to see such spectacular "5-star" performances! Stargazers love to share the sky show with the public, but we can't share the show if the cosmic theater is soaked with light.
Sunny Days and Milky Way Nights!
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troegerj@raccoon.com