Light Pollution Back in the News

Today, light pollution was on the front page of Charleston's The Post and Courier. Robert Behre's article discusses companies' and municipalities' efforts to control the amount of light escaping into the environment. Previously, we blogged about light pollution's effect on wildlife and our ability to see the stars in the night sky. However, today's newspaper article introduces another negative effect of light pollution...wasted energy and the cost to us.



In the article, Bob Dukes, astromony professor at the College of Charleston, is said to be most frustrated not only by the glow of the Lowcountry sky, but because of the amount of that glow that represents waste, public or private dollars powering light fixtures that aim the wrong way. "People think light pollution doesn't really affect them if they're not interested in seeing the sky," he said, "but it does because every bit of light that doesn't go where it's supposed to is money going down the drain."


Indeed...with less money in everyone's pockets, diminishing supplies of fossil fuel resources, and debates over the pollution from coal-generated electricity, it makes sense to use electricity, in the home AND in the community, efficiently and wisely.


Image from NASA

P.S. - The next nightwalk at the Audubon Center at Francis Beidler Forest is March 7th at 6pm.