re vandalizing the sky in article c bdio k c news cso uiuc edu jbh uxa cso uiuc edu josh hopkins writes rbunge access digex net robert bunge writes it s vandalism because many people power companies do maliciously waste light maliciously implies evil intent the lighting companies aren t going out of their way to spoil the sky they just don t care if they can sell you or your city or your state an unshielded light that wastes to percent of its light they make more money never mind that your money is wasted it is the responsibility of the customer to choose the most efficient hardware if that s what your city will buy that s what the lighting company will sell write a letter to city hall that s fine idea but it only works if the lighting power company even bothers to supply good light fixtures for instance a power company in virginia recently asked a state commission for permission to sell more lights of various type yet all of the different fixture that they sold and wanted to sell were bad designs one that wasted the light thus you couldn t even buy a good light from them in most places to get a good light you have to either order it special at high cost or call a store in arizona at some point society starts to make rules cars have to pass safety tests companies have to meet pollution standards etc there are two ways to achieve this educate the public so that they demand good lighting or force code down the lighting companies backs history seems to suggest that the latter is more likely to work please note that i m not defending light pollution the orignial focus of this thread was space based light sources agreed so i won t respond again it s important for all you spacers out there to realize that some people will object to various wild ideas that have been presented just like congress it would be best to consult the astronomers lovers of the night sky before you try some pr stunt to boost public knowledge about space josh hopkins jbh uxa cso uiuc edu find a way or make one attributed to hannibal bob bunge rbunge access digex com
