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In this Discussion
- canopus7 May 2012
- John_Brady May 2012
dark skies park
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Goods news in the n.e.,the Northumberland Nat.Parks going for dark skies preserve status,bads news is Network Rail have decides to[if its not beeen done already]to pump more light into the sky by lighting up the Royal Border Bridge at Berwick upon Tweed.Wonder how they can justify lighting up historic buildings whilst at the same time telling us not to leave TVs on standby?Dont we have enough day light hours ,even in winter,that people can look at,churches,castles,bridges and other such junk in?
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That's great Canopus,
I love all this media publicity on dark sky parks, what with Galloway, Sark, and now Northumberland.
http://www.northumberlandnationalpark.org.uk/parklive/news/news-pages/move-to-create-europes-largest-dark-sky-preserve-in-northumberland
It's got to be putting the issue of light pollution into the general public's thinking, and showing people just what they're missing out on when their night skies are washed out by sky glow.
But hopefully all this talk of dark sky parks might just start to change attitudes. Do people really need that ridiculous 6 million candle security light just to shine on the back yard? It's washing out the natural starlight that has been travelling for thousands, or even millions of years across space to get here.
It's only when you get under a truly dark sky, a sky when the stars are literally overwhelming and dominate everything, that you realise just what we are missing out on. -
Plus does lighting reduce crime?Remember the recent riots what was above the rioters....streetlights!Where do most criminals live?In lit towns and citys!We forget what a huge industry lighting is as its something we take for granted.There can be no excuse for vanity lighting of churches, etc,its a huge waste for money,destroys the night sky and causes demand for more and more power,as the debate over wind farms or the recent flooding of the nuclear plant in Japan tells us the power has to be made it doesnt come out of thin air.Seems strange to me that if you light a path through a park yet few people use that park at night if someone attacks you there will be no witness,no one to help,so all the lighting does is makes you visible to a potential attacker and allows them to size you up,how many of you,does he have a dog,how big is he ,etc.
