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A message from the FAS which will be of interest to members:
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The House of Lords has opened a consultation on light pollution (and noise). This is the first potentially meaningful parliamentary engagement with the topic since the APPG for Dark Skies ( https://appgdarkskies.co.uk )
was formed, so please take the time to respond to it if you can:
https://committees.parliament.uk/work/7256/the-effects-of-artificial-light-and-noise-on-human-health/news/175664/artificial-light-and-noise-inquiry-launched/Also, a reminder that the annual CPRE star count begins on Friday 17th February. The more locations that report, the more useful the collected data will be, so no need to go anywhere particularly dark, unless you do so in addition to your back garden or urban balcony. Full instructions on their website:
https://www.cpre.org.uk/what-we-care-about/nature-and-landscapes/dark-skies/star-count-2023/A concern myself and a few others have over the CPRE data is that it’s possible to zoom in to the exact house the observations were made, according to the CPRE this should not be possible, but myself and several people I know have demonstrated that this can be done and has been reported here on a previous thread last year by a few people. The problem here is that this data is in the public domain and it can give the impression that the location has potentially expensive equipment possibly in an outbuilding. This leaves open the possibility of theft or vandalism.
An article on the BBC seems to contradict the report from the CPRE for last year and the previous year, I tend to trust Dr Kyba’s results as questions were raised in an interesting thread on here last year over the methodology the CPRE uses to arrive at their conclusions.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-64321824Years ago, a proposal was made in Italy for a national law against light pollution. All kinds of discussions were immediately raised. Television programmes were flooded with chatter on the subject. Presenters improvised themselves as experts on the problem. Interviews were conducted with lawyers, with technicians who only then knew about the problem, with poets and painters who described the stars (perhaps without ever having looked up at the sky), with storytellers and people from the street. Olympic wrestling champions were asked if they would feel safe after ‘switching off’ the lights in the city, they answered no. In short, everything contributed to confusing people’s ideas. Epilogue? The bill was never considered by the Chamber of Deputies, it was rejected by the pre-chamber committee. Current situation? there are many regional laws and laws that no one is complying with. Just like the ‘Manzonian cries’. 1st chapter of ‘I Promessi Sposi’ by Alessandro Manzoni.
Translated with http://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
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