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Health & Quality of Life: Recent landmark studies by University of
Connecticut epidemiologist Dr. Richard Stevens have discovered that bright lights
at night can nearly double the risk of cancer by disrupting the hormonal and immune
systems of the body. These disruptions also cause insomnia, depression, and
other physical and mental diseases.
Safety, Security and Crime:
These are the problems nighttime outdoor lights are advertised to eliminate.
Unfortunately, many lights today like Acorn streetlights, unshielded forward-firing
Floodlights, Drop-Lens Roadlights and Dusk-to-Dawn Yardlights waste 30-60% of their
light, sending blinding glare into people's eyes and polluting the night sky.
Because this type of lighting doesn't enhance visibility, safety and security are
not increased but rather are in many cases decreased.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice Report to Congress on the effectiveness of lighting,
http://home.att.net/~icole/crime_ref_guide.html
"We can have very little confidence that improved lighting prevents crime, particularly
since we do not know if offenders use lighting to their advantage. In the
absence of better theories about when and where lighting can be effective, and rigorous
evaluations of plausible lighting interventions, we cannot make any scientific assertions
regarding the effectiveness of lighting. In short, the effectiveness of lighting
is unknown."
In closing, after decades
of aggressive lighting programs, the results speak for themselves! Crime rates
in America are higher today than in any previous time in recorded history.
Security is diligently sought for but never achieved. Personal safety is at
an all-time low.
All this with an annual pricetag of more than $20,000,000,000 worldwide!
Uncontrolled Outdoor Lighting, like crime, never pays!
Astronomy:
Personal:
This is the part of light pollution that you are probably most familiar with.
After all, a dome of skyglow over cities and the resulting lack of stars have become
far too familiar of a sight for most Americans.
In spite of the record low
prices and wide selection of powerful Astronomical telescopes, starting at $150
from dealers like
www.telescope.com, light pollution is fast blocking
our view of the night sky and ending personal Astronomy as we know it.
We need to take action today
to save the Universe! We can change the world, one light at a time! See
http://www.darksky.org/
Professional: The pace of Astronomical
discoveries today is truly remarkable, especially with space telescopes like the
Hubble,
Chandra,
WMAP, and
Mars Rover missions!
But the workhorses of Astronomy,
Ground-Based Observatories, which direct the space telescopes towards targets of
interest, are under fire from light pollution. Although lighting regulations
have been enacted to protect several observatories, we need to guarantee that every
observatory is protected!
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