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I have a laser that is powerful enough break balloons. I use it in my work. I can point out objects to a customer at a long distance. For example, I can point out a boundary marker over 100 yards away rather than wade through a swamp.
Then there is the driver with super bright lights. I can invite him to dim his lights. He will pull over to the side of the road until his vision returns. It is against the law to point these lasers at airplanes. However, you can use them at night to point out planets and stars. There is enough dust in the air that your beam is visible. Your beam of light may look brown lately. That is from the huge Canadian forest fires. It's fun to go out at night and watch falling snowflakes burst into puffs of steam.
I sold a piece of land on a hilltop to an astronomer who wanted no light pollution. We have clear skies in Maine. I was going along with a customer years ago she he said, "What's THAT" I asked what he meant and he pointed at the half moon. I told him it was the moon. He said, "You can't see the moon in the daytime." I said, "You can in Maine." Once in a while I take a photo of a property with the moon in the pic.
I remember when halogen lights became common and everyone complained about them (including me in my 20s). But I got used to them. I cannot seem to get used to the new technology in cars though. Worse is it seems to bounce with the car more than the older lights did so one second it's almost tolerable than BAM I'm blind. We seem to have a high percentage of people who don't understand how to turn their high beams off and I've lost patience with that and will hit them with mine pretty quickly. I saw you and turned mine off, your turn to figure it out.
Personally I find driving on dark roads way easier without street lights. The street lights seem to dilute my headlights and makes it more difficult to see road details.
I visited a very rural area a few years ago and headed out for the morning well before sunrise. I had about a 30 minute backroads drive to get to my destination and was amazed at how easy it was to see with just my headlights, there were no streetlights and very few houses to pass. The stars took my breath away when I stepped outside! Until the owners driveway light popped on.
My worst problems at home besides street lights are my neighbors. I moved into a back bedroom to get rid of the street lights. A bunch of people on the street have front lights, one neighbor has a string of lights under their upper deck on ALL NIGHT, one behind me has lined all of his fence posts with solar caps (thankfully they lose juice as the night goes on) and he just added a ton of lighting to his screened in porch - not sure yet how long it stays on but it's on at 1am. That doesn't include all the motion lights. I keep cameras in my yard for wildlife viewing and have to try and keep them pointed away from the neighboring lights else they get set off for nothing all night.
There is a push to turn off lights during peak bird migration times. I wish people would try it and get used to it and stop using so many lights!
Well, I'm not sure what is going on with some of the newer LEDs, but it seems like many of them have delamination failures. I've passed at least 8-10 that are purple colored, which is not typical apparently.
I visited a very rural area a few years ago and headed out for the morning well before sunrise. I had about a 30 minute backroads drive to get to my destination and was amazed at how easy it was to see with just my headlights...
I think part of the problem is that in our urbanized society not many people get to spend enough time outside in a dark location to become completely dark-adapted. It takes our eyes about 40 minutes to achieve maximum dark adaptation, and that is lost almost instantly following a bright light exposure. So most people literally are clueless about how well we can actually see in the dark. At the dark sky park I will be visiting next month, after spending about a half-hour at the site I can walk around the grounds perfectly well without using any artificial light - and that is at new moon!
Of course, another big driving factor is simple fear of the dark, which (because it is instinctive) is hard to combat. A lot of outdoor lighting is the adult equivalent of a child's bedroom night light, installed to keep the boogey monster away.
Often times people with light colored eyes are sensitive to bright lights. Why? Apparently light eyes don’t contain dark particles that tend to block light. So as a “class” super bright lights like LEDs force this group to avoid them.
But even old fashioned street lights apparently disrupt bird flight and animal migrations. Even house lights theoretically need to be installed so as not to shine into the neighbor houses since they can be disruptive of sleep.
But while light pollution means a lot to some people others don’t see the need. Maybe they have darker eyes and actually see less light.
Interesting theory. I remember going to the eye doctor a long time ago and the eye doctor asked if I was taking any drugs/medication because my pupils are always somewhat dilated to the extent that I don’t need dilation. That makes sense since I almost always get headaches if I have to look at something bright. For example, I had a fitness class where the instructor kept the previous (super dark purple) light scheme going and I was actually feeling ill because the reflected light from the fitness floor and bright monitors was problematic. The other colors seem to be less problematic for whatever reason. I also got really ill back in the day when my car didn’t have the night vision side mirrors and the big truck lights would be very bright.
Does anyone know if it's possible to file a lawsuit against a neighbor for a security light infringing on your house? I'm guessing this may be the new wave lawsuits?
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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It's hard to balance home security lighting with light pollution. I have two solar floodlights that are just a foot off the ground, and a big dual lens LED floodlight that only comes on when motion is detected. With our home on big lots at 600' elevation and no street lights, a mile from the nearest stores, we can still see the stars. I don't know of any city, including ours that has any department concerned with light pollution. They are all about runoff into the streams and saving the salmon, and have a tree ordinance preventing most from being cut, and a noise ordinance.
Often times people with light colored eyes are sensitive to bright lights. Why? Apparently light eyes don’t contain dark particles that tend to block light. So as a “class” super bright lights like LEDs force this group to avoid them.
But even old fashioned street lights apparently disrupt bird flight and animal migrations. Even house lights theoretically need to be installed so as not to shine into the neighbor houses since they can be disruptive of sleep.
But while light pollution means a lot to some people others don’t see the need. Maybe they have darker eyes and actually see less light.
Interesting as I have blue eyes and before I had my cataracts dealt with, I had pretty much given up night driving. I still use a lot of caution as the lights are unpleasant.
Well, we have just been in South Africa where there is a massive electricity supply problem, with blackouts for hours every day. So of course that cuts way down on light pollution, but remember the dreadful consequences of having no traffic lights, street lights, decent lighting in buildings.
If the path to renewable energy is not well organised, other countries might be the same and it is not something to wish for.
Does anyone know if it's possible to file a lawsuit against a neighbor for a security light infringing on your house? I'm guessing this may be the new wave lawsuits?
It depends on the laws in your locality. Some places have no enforceable restrictions on lighting, some have lighting codes on the books that aren't enforced in practice, and some have tough codes that ARE enforced. Obviously you stand the best chance in the latter locations. From what I've read elsewhere, you also have a better chance if the light is shining into a bedroom window and interfering with your sleep or forcing you to install blackout curtains or other such light-blocking solutions that can interfere with keeping the window open at night to catch a breeze.
I would think the reason for a lawsuit of this kind would be Invasion of Privacy?
More likely, it would be based on interference with the peaceful enjoyment of one’s property. That is the foundation for noise pollution lawsuits, and lawsuits, based on other types of undesirable activity on an adjacent property (such as doing something that emits strong, foul odors). It is a form of trespass.
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