LETTER: Light pollution should be dim

Editor,

The Oct. 3 issue of The Statesman has an article about what USU is doing to become more environmentally friendly. The goal as stated by the article is “meeting present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.”

There is one valuable environmental resource that many people no longer are even aware of – the night sky. It is compromised by too many artificial lights. Now, I’m not saying we need to get rid of all artificial lights, they are very important for safety reasons. But they do need to be used intelligently. That means only lighting what needs to be lit: roads, walkways, entrances. Parking lot lights have no need to be taller than the surrounding buildings, for example. Another example of poor lighting on campus is the new lights put in when the steam tunnels were re-done. These lights have no shielding on the top, so half their light is lost. It is unusable by the people the lights are intended to help and is nothing but pollution. Yes, pollution, and I’m not overstating the case at all. Light that does nothing to increase safety and interferes with seeing the stars is pollution.

Some of you might ask, “But what kind of resource are the stars?” They are a key to opening the most important resource of all – the human mind. Stars inspire wonder, imagination, creativity, the will to travel, and the desire to learn. Go out in the middle of nowhere some night and look up. When you come back, look up. If you are as disappointed as I am by what you see, speak up. If enough people start looking and speaking up, we can reclaim the night skies for present and future generations. At the very least, look up.

Laura Swift