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Information Sheet 139 (July 1998) Page 2 of 4 wasted. Collectively, for a municipality with a population of 100,000, from $300,000 to $500,000 is being lost to the sky every year. This results in not only the loss ofthe stars, but an avoidable economic loss to the community as well. Uncontrolled lighting often creates a garish landscape, with a confusing tangle of lights that shine into citizens' eyes rather than onto the ground, where it is needed. The term for this obtrusive light is "veiling glare", and we are paying extra for it, each and every night the fixture is in use. We can do better! This inability to see well in our already over-lit nightscapes due to glare leads to ever more lighting. The eye is designed to function effectively both day and night. But in our cities, our eyes have to run the gauntlet from lit areas that are intensely illuminated to areas of dark shadows caused by those glary lights. The eye will naturally adjust to the brightest portion of a given scene, often leaving quite adequately lit areas nearby looking dark. Glare and over illumination are thus counterproductive. The more light we use in one area, the more we need everywhere else because the iris in the eye stops down, letting less light in. Adjacent areas (including streets) with formerly adequate illumination now look relatively dim as we ratchet up the light levels in one particular location. Interestingly, a lower illumination level provided by a white light source in a fully-shielded fixture would allow the eye to naturally adapt to the lower light level, and we could adequately illuminate parking lots with less than one footcandle of illumination. A disturbing new trend seen in some national chains of convenience stores and gas stations has been to ratchet up the light level under the canopy to very high levels (10,000 times as much illumination as provided by a full moon!) in an effort to attract customers and provide "a safer, more secure" environment for their employees. For their patronage, customers now can have the delightful experience of trying to blindly navigate their vehicle for a few seconds onto the much darker streets while their eyes readapt. No one wins these escalating "light wars" and our aesthetic environment deteriorates by the year. Rather than improve safety, these "ratcheteers" have in fact compromised safety. It is time to halt this unnecessary and counterproductive escalation in lighting that affects us all whether we own the lighting system or just live near it. After all, it's not rocket science -- it's good lighting science. Outdoor lighting should be regulated for the public good, just like signs, billboards, and noise pollution are. Fully shielding all outdoor fixtures can eliminate light trespass as well as waste. http://www.darksky .org/infoshts/is 139 .html 6/20/2005