While I was on the senior trip, I tried to relate something to my project in class. What I came up with was light pollution and how it affects the Earth. With Disney's many parks and attractions, there's no doubt about it that they use a lot of light in shows and to light up the park. Sure, it looks pretty when you see such beautiful colors and designs but no thinks about the impact lighting has on Earth. We are the very first humans living on this planet to create a lifestyle that is slowly destroying our connection with the sky. Have you ever seen the milky way or the big dipper? The mostly answer is no! Unless you are far out away from the city in the country you probably will not jsse them. In more urbanized places they can not be seen at all. Imagine watching your favorite movie in a well lit theater. The light completely overwhelms the movie and you quickly lose interest. Likewise, the beautiful nightly celestial show is easily destroyed by the improper use of streetlights and other outdoor lighting at night. It isn't that astronomers want all the lights turned off as much as they want to make streetlights and other lights do what they should do shine down on the ground. By properly shielding our streetlights and directing other lights downward, we can save two things, the night sky for all of us, and lots of money.
Monday, May 18, 2009
LiGHT POLLUTiON
While I was on the senior trip, I tried to relate something to my project in class. What I came up with was light pollution and how it affects the Earth. With Disney's many parks and attractions, there's no doubt about it that they use a lot of light in shows and to light up the park. Sure, it looks pretty when you see such beautiful colors and designs but no thinks about the impact lighting has on Earth. We are the very first humans living on this planet to create a lifestyle that is slowly destroying our connection with the sky. Have you ever seen the milky way or the big dipper? The mostly answer is no! Unless you are far out away from the city in the country you probably will not jsse them. In more urbanized places they can not be seen at all. Imagine watching your favorite movie in a well lit theater. The light completely overwhelms the movie and you quickly lose interest. Likewise, the beautiful nightly celestial show is easily destroyed by the improper use of streetlights and other outdoor lighting at night. It isn't that astronomers want all the lights turned off as much as they want to make streetlights and other lights do what they should do shine down on the ground. By properly shielding our streetlights and directing other lights downward, we can save two things, the night sky for all of us, and lots of money.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
During my camping weekend in Northwest Jersey, I looked up in the sky on Friday night and saw the shiniest clusters of stars that I had seen in years. No lights from nearby cities and towns really lets them do their thing.
ReplyDelete