The Campaign for Dark Skies: Pain in the Neck or Useful Pressure Group?

摘要

Since my 'Last Word' article, entitled 'Light Pollution and Astronomy - Are We Still Relevant?' (Lighting Journal, Jan-Feb 2004) I have had more than 12 months of contact with the Campaign for Dark Skies (CfDS) and the lighting engineers with whom they have been in constant discussion. So what has the experience been like? What is the future of the relationship between lighting engineers and astronomers? The first intimation that this would be an interesting year occurred within days of the release of the Lighting Journal article, when I received two letters from CfDS officers commenting on it and expressing a desire for further discussion. This piqued my curiosity, as the flavour of both letters was both polite and eager. My next experience was the 'Lighting and Landscapes' event organised by the Landscape Institute on March 9, 2004. Bob Mizon, co-ordinator for the CfDS, gave a paper on designing out light pollution and, Kate Painter, well known criminologist from Cambridge University, gave a presentation on designing out crime. To use the analogy of fire and petrol would probably be an understatement - suffice it to say these were two very different standpoints.