3 ms·

> If people general prefer a dark sky at night, why do we have so much lighting? At the risk of stating the obvious, it is because your assumption is incorrect

> If people general prefer a dark sky at night, why do we have so much lighting? At the risk of stating the obvious, it is because your assumption is incorrect. Or perhaps more specifically, it is too narrowly focused. People may generally prefer a dark sky, but clearly they don't generally prefer it over having a well lit landscape.

Nifty3929 4y ago
And there you go right there. That's exactly what I'm talking about. One reason people might light things up is that they prefer X (a well lit landscape) more than they value a dark sky at night. Other ideas: Landing strips. Safety (perceived?) in public spaces. On streets. Around homes. Etc. I'm not arguing these are good tradeoffs or not, just that they ARE tradeoffs for some people, and there's no moral imperative one way or the other.
- rootusrootus 4y ago
  We are slowly making some progress, new streetlights are generally shrouded better than they were in the past. But then LED lights tend to be harsh, towards the blue end of the spectrum. I'd like to see shorter lights with warmer color temperature, at least. There is a section of I-5 between Portland and Seattle, perhaps a couple miles long, that has blue streetlights. Like, really blue, not just blue-ish white. It's like driving under a blacklight. The Internet tells me this is the result of a manufacturing defect and the effect is not intentional. I hope they replace them soon, they're kinda distracting when you're driving.
  - Nifty3929 4y ago
    I think it would be better to understand more clearly what light sources are contributing to keep things focused on the more substantial contributors. Is it streetlights? Indoor home lighting? Landscape lighting? I really don't know, but I think it's important to look at. How is it different at 9pm vs 2am?

3 ms·

> If people general prefer a dark sky at night, why do we have so much lighting? At the risk of stating the obvious, it is because your assumption is incorrect

by rootusrootus 4y ago

Nifty3929 4y ago
And there you go right there. That's exactly what I'm talking about. One reason people might light things up is that they prefer X (a well lit landscape) more than they value a dark sky at night. Other ideas: Landing strips. Safety (perceived?) in public spaces. On streets. Around homes. Etc. I'm not arguing these are good tradeoffs or not, just that they ARE tradeoffs for some people, and there's no moral imperative one way or the other.
- rootusrootus 4y ago
  We are slowly making some progress, new streetlights are generally shrouded better than they were in the past. But then LED lights tend to be harsh, towards the blue end of the spectrum. I'd like to see shorter lights with warmer color temperature, at least. There is a section of I-5 between Portland and Seattle, perhaps a couple miles long, that has blue streetlights. Like, really blue, not just blue-ish white. It's like driving under a blacklight. The Internet tells me this is the result of a manufacturing defect and the effect is not intentional. I hope they replace them soon, they're kinda distracting when you're driving.
  - Nifty3929 4y ago
    I think it would be better to understand more clearly what light sources are contributing to keep things focused on the more substantial contributors. Is it streetlights? Indoor home lighting? Landscape lighting? I really don't know, but I think it's important to look at. How is it different at 9pm vs 2am?