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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.
I was gonna post this - I think a big root problem is people are simply afraid of the dark, and it's gotten a lot worse in modern times. Many people don't go outside without some source of bright light, like EVER. Many people today have never experienced a pre lightbulb time where it was just dark when the sun went down. I used to walk on a greenway in Suwanee GA after dark, as it was essentially empty, outside of the occasional older korean jogger lady. People used to look at me like I was wacko and told me I was going to get robbed / assaulted... ha! Maybe if I was doing that in west downtown ATL lol.
Here's my solutions:
1. Campaign around getting people outside in the dark and actually experience what it's like and that it's not a scary world. As long as there's this big cohort of people completely afraid of the dark, they will NIMBY any action.
2. Cities / municipalities / companies are the ones with the most lightbulbs. Work with them to change behavior and lighting sources. This make the problem better as you only have to change a few people's mindsets rather than every home owner.
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?
Did you talk with him about that? It wouldn't be advisable to start a lawsuit with your neighbor without trying other possibilities to compromise. You don't want to live next to your enemy #1.
See if you can negotiate something that could satisfy your both.
If the houses are pretty close to each other some security light shining at your house is simply unavoidable
^^^The OP is in luck if he lives in Tucson proper, as that city has lighting ordinances with real teeth. Fingers crossed that those lighting ordinances cover his location!
(When your city lives next to Kitt Peak, slowing the spread of light pollution matters. The Big Island of Hawaii also has tough regulations, for the same reason. The number of places where world-class observatories can be built is very limited!)
I was gonna post this - I think a big root problem is people are simply afraid of the dark, and it's gotten a lot worse in modern times. Many people don't go outside without some source of bright light, like EVER. Many people today have never experienced a pre lightbulb time where it was just dark when the sun went down. I used to walk on a greenway in Suwanee GA after dark, as it was essentially empty, outside of the occasional older korean jogger lady. People used to look at me like I was wacko and told me I was going to get robbed / assaulted... ha! Maybe if I was doing that in west downtown ATL lol.
Here's my solutions:
1. Campaign around getting people outside in the dark and actually experience what it's like and that it's not a scary world. As long as there's this big cohort of people completely afraid of the dark, they will NIMBY any action.
2. Cities / municipalities / companies are the ones with the most lightbulbs. Work with them to change behavior and lighting sources. This make the problem better as you only have to change a few people's mindsets rather than every home owner.
Perhaps when you are young no permanent damage will be done if you trip and fall over in the dark. Not so when you are older.
Depends where you live on the safety factor. No way would you want to wander around in the dark in Sth Africa when they are having their blackouts, with no traffic lights or street lights. I wouldn’t wander around here in complete darkness either as the ground is too uneven.
^^^The OP is in luck if he lives in Tucson proper, as that city has lighting ordinances with real teeth. Fingers crossed that those lighting ordinances cover his location!
(When your city lives next to Kitt Peak, slowing the spread of light pollution matters. The Big Island of Hawaii also has tough regulations, for the same reason. The number of places where world-class observatories can be built is very limited!)
I've looked thru the 17 pages of lighting codes in Tucson, and the violations, and I contacted someone to try and get someone out here at night to observe, witness violations, but being it's a Co-op, I was told it's not their jurisdiction? I now sent an email to the city council member in my district hoping he can help.
The article on eye color is so true. My neighbor is bothered by bright lights, LED lights on cars, and I talked to another resident who's bothered by the security lights, and yes, they, and myself, all have blue eyes. Brown eyes have a filter to them. So if you complain to someone with brown eyes, they'll be puzzled as to why you're complaining.
I cannot see people wanting to do without lighting any time soon.
I am 60, so I think that qualifies as older. Trust me, you see much better in the dark then you realize IF your eyes are fully dark adapted. Today, however, most people have never experienced full dark adaptation of their eyes. They literally do not know, because they have never experienced, how well they can actually see in the dark.
And no one is asking anyone to do completely without outdoor lighting at night. Stemming light pollution is about stopping excessive and wasteful use of such light. It is perfectly possible to light walking paths and other outdoor areas to prevent accidents without causing huge amounts of light to be shining wastefully sideways or up into the sky.
Tucson went dark in 1972 with the observatory atop the Catalina Mountains, it employs some 4000 people. A good portion of Tucson you'll find not one street light on any given street, and oftentimes, no sidewalks.
I'm blessed to be surrounded by unlit streets and it's such a treat to walk these streets, as I walk in the streets to walk my ferret. Now perhaps a number of these houses have security lights, but given the distance from the houses to the road, you don't set them off unless you get closer to the house.
On any given night you'll see people walking their dogs with flashlights. It's a puzzle to me how my co-op community ended up with LED street lights, and so much of the rest of Tucson must suffer without one street light.
I am 60, so I think that qualifies as older. Trust me, you see much better in the dark then you realize IF your eyes are fully dark adapted. Today, however, most people have never experienced full dark adaptation of their eyes. They literally do not know, because they have never experienced, how well they can actually see in the dark.
And no one is asking anyone to do completely without outdoor lighting at night. Stemming light pollution is about stopping excessive and wasteful use of such light. It is perfectly possible to light walking paths and other outdoor areas to prevent accidents without causing huge amounts of light to be shining wastefully sideways or up into the sky.
I had the impression that you were advocating that people move around in total darkness.
The problem is that it takes some time for eyes to adapt. We were in South Africa last month and the first place we stayed was very spread out. The power would go down at 7pm every night and it would take a few minutes before the generator kicked in. It was really hard to see where we were walking and even when we used the light in our phones it was difficult. A lot of our group were over seventy and nobody wanted to fall and break a hip while in a foreign country.
This is yet another issue of the gap between the wealthy and poor countries. You apparently have way too much light and they have far too little. I have to say that this is not an issue in my country, as far as I know. There is widespread concern about the price of electricity, though people can afford it, and increasing costs may well limit the use.
Apparently bright white light, which includes all color wavelengths, can overload your reception such that you lose your dark adaptation. Supposedly it takes about 30 min to totally recover.
Red light is safer and blue is harsher. I read that deep sea captains in the distant past had red lighting on their instruments so that they could glance at them for information but recover to see obstacles in the dark within a couple minutes. White light would have delayed that substantially.
So we have two things going on at the same time: The effect of actual intensity, and the color spectrum. Light colored eyes see better in moderate or dim light, but brown eyes are better protected under all conditions due to the melanin.
I myself would love the situation in Tucson.
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