July 30, 2002

Well, this is a pleasant

Well, this is a pleasant surprise. I got some heated response to my rather flippant link to a story on light pollution. A little agitation is good for the old weblog.

It looks like the Loudoun County light pollution ordinance would let busy body county officials start dictating what kind of lights people can have on their property. It's an extension of the nick picking many local officials do when someone wants to build something in a way the officials think is "ugly."

Some have commented that light pollution laws would save money. Maybe, but that would be individual savings, and they would already be thinking of ways of conserving electricity if they wanted to. With electricity being plentiful, they're little reason to conserve.

Light pollution laws shouldn't be the role of government. Rights aren't being violated. This debate revolves around aesthetics. One JNoles thinks light pollution laws would protect a "sacred American tradition, the freedom to enjoy the illumination of your own backyard from the natural nightsky." Some want to live in a suburban area surrounded by people with all the convinences (stores, restaurants, jobs), but accept none of the tradeoffs. I have a feeling, the Founding Fathers didn't pledge their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor just so they could see some miniscule star in Orion from a parking lot of a Wal-Mart in Loudoun County. If people want to avoid light pollution, they should move to the country or persuade their neighbors to lessen their light use. What they shouldn't do is use the heavy hand of government to satisfy their aesthetic wants.

International Dark-Sky Association