Light Pollution
Campaign date: 08-01-2008
The peerless sight of a night sky filled with stars is now barred to most of us thanks to the man-made light which spills beyond its intended purpose and blots out our view of the universe.
It should be possible to distinguish 3,000 individual stars on a clear night with the naked eye, as well as clearly seeing the haze of the Milky Way, made up of 300 billion stars, bisecting the sky. In modern Kent, though – thanks to the orange glow over our towns or the glare of a security light on the side of a warehouse – you’d be lucky to spot more than a few dozen.
The problem of light pollution is getting worse, with more cars on our streets, more lights by our roads, more high-powered security lights in our towns and countryside. Half a million tons of fossil fuels are burnt each year to power outside lights, and most of it is wasted.
CPRE Kent campaigns for more ‘full-cut-off’ lighting – which casts its light only downwards – to be used for streets and roads, and urges those installing outside security lights make sure they do not shine directly into their neighbours’ windows or up into the sky. We also believe that many lights – such as office lighting, the illuminations on ‘heritage’ buildings or the white lights in empty office car parks – could be turned off for some of the night. We need to take action to restore one of the world’s greatest wonders to our everyday lives.
CPRE national policy on light pollution
Attachments:
- kent life article on light pollution by cpre kent may 2006.doc
- File Size: 25 K
- Last Modified: 8 January 2008 11:33 am