If I were to say ‘Raise your hands if you’ve seen the Cerne Abbas Giant’, or the arch at Durdle Door … How about Stonehenge, or the Tower of London, or if you’ve been to the Lake District , or the mountains of Snowdonia …’ I’m sure there’d be lots of raised hands ….
Imagine now if one morning you’d woken to find that your neighbours, or the local council, or local businesses/corporations had placed a massive drape over the Cerne Giant, or erected a huge wall around Stonehenge, or along the cliff top at Durdle Door, preventing you from seeing them. Or banned you from visiting the Lake District or Snowdonia … There’d be outrage.
How about if I’d asked you to raise your hands if you’ve ever seen the Pleiades, or the Beehive star cluster, or the Andromeda galaxy, or even the Milky Way? A recent survey in America reported that over 80% of US citizens had never seen the Milky Way! In fact, the Milky Way is thought to be hidden from around one third of humanity!
In the UK, according to the recent CPRE Star Count: ‘51% of our star-spotters said that they could see only ten or fewer stars, meaning that they were experiencing severe light pollution.’ I actually suspect that the figure, if you take in city dwellers, is much worse. I honestly can’t believe that more people aren’t angry about this (though, I suppose there’s quite a lot to be angry about these days).
But that’s exactly what’s going on with light pollution. Domestic and business security lights are left on all night, lighting that’s too bright for what’s actually needed is installed, or is badly positioned so that the light is sent up and out rather down where it’s needed, there’s light trespass, anti-social lighting … it’s almost become the norm, but it doesn’t have to be this way. You can raise the issue with your neighbours; chances are they don’t even realise there’s an issue. You can raise the issue with the local council environmental protection department; they can advise and, if it comes to it, make those responsible change their lighting installations. There’s some useful information here, if you need it:
https://www.environmental-protection.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Light-Pollution.pdf
It’s not just a matter of stargazers not being able to appreciate the natural wonders of the night sky that’s at stake. The issue affects human health (just google ‘effects of light pollution on human health’). There’s also the very real ecological imperative to reducing light pollution. Nocturnal mammals, birds and insects are all badly affected (again, just google ‘ecological effects of light pollution’, you’ll find masses of information…). In fact, this page is very useful:
https://www.darksky.org/light-pollution/human-health/
As with all that’s wrong in the world, it’s all too easy to say ‘well, I’m just one person, what can I do about it?’ The answer is simple. Take a look at your own lighting and think about how you can reduce its impact. Talk to your neighbours about how your lighting affects them and about how theirs affects you, chances are, like you, they’d be happy to use lower wattage bulbs, or angle the lights downward. It’s also possible to install sensors so that lights come on only when they’re needed. Raise the issue for discussion on your community Facebook page/newsletter. Share this page on your social media. Contact your council environmental protection department ….
Above all, it’s important to just discuss the issue, as it’s not too late to do something about it. Many people just aren’t aware of light pollution and its effects. And like many of the crises affecting our natural world, once something becomes the norm, it’s nigh on impossible to turn back the clock.
Kevin Quinn
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