What is this all about?

Every day brings further degradation of our environmental heritage, notably the night sky. Instead of seeing the stars glistening against a velvety black background, the Milky Way an obvious river of light banding the sky, we see a green/orange murk, penetrated by only a handful of the very brightest celestial objects. Billboards, "security" lights, vanity lighting of corporate premises and appallingly bad streetlight design are certainly major offenders. As this energy is uselessly directed into the sky, the cost in energy is enormous.

Our country's energy-related natural reserves are squandered, our limited economic resources are irresponsibly deployed, the environment is devastated. And yet there is concern at where the money will come from to build more energy infrastructure! If we used what we have sensibly and effectively, we could do far more while actually saving money; the economic argument is powerful and compelling, yet goes ignored.

We the astronomical fraternity admittedly have a vested interest in reclaiming our skies, but the cause of our woes is equally to blame for other ills that our friends the environmentalists bemoan, and of which our economists appear ignorant. The general population has been mislead into imagining that more light (even directed into the sky!) will somehow make them safer. The fact is that bad lighting causes glare and stark shadows, both of which play into the hands of the criminals. Further, bad lighting makes for dangerous driving conditions. If the current lighting trend continues, everyone loses.

We need to rally ourselves, joining forces with progressive thinkers in the lighting engineering, environmentalism, economics and security industries, to combat this situation. If we do not, our children will never know the beauty of the night sky that is their constitutional right.

Wanted: Somebody to take a stand!

If you believe there is any validity in the above, why not get involved?

• Speak to our Chairman and volunteer your services.
• Form an action group and report back here.
• Contact ASSA's national co-ordinator... 
  • Cliff Turk cliffturk@yebo.co.za
• Do it now!

Since you are here, please take a moment to see more at:

http://skyandtelescope.com/resources/darksky/default.asp

(We are not alone!)