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squire
Valinor
Dec 7 2012, 5:34am
Views: 103
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I'm of two minds about this.
The few times I've seen the stars at night in their full glory in clear air far from the cities, it was a magnificent sight. It made me realize something of the relationship with nature that mankind must have had in earlier times: Nature ruled, Man drooled. It is a humbling, and enriching, and oddly ennobling experience.
On the other hand, we as a species have worked hard for over a century to light the darkness. The fear, the strain, the lost time, the confusion and constraint, the danger from fire and accident that the dark hours imposed on us is gone now. We see what we want to see when we want to see it. When we go to bed, we darken the room at will to sleep. When we want light, we flip a switch. If every branch, sect, nation and tribe of mankind have eagerly embraced this technology as soon as it was available - which they have, I believe - why do we claim to be sorry about light "pollution"? Why do we want it both ways? Why can't we be wise enough to treat some losses as acceptable rather than regrettable?
Even the term pollution is problematic: lighting the night sky is not in the same category as poisoning the water and air with industrial waste, as far as I can see. The latter has actual effects on the long-term sustainability of life on earth and should be combated; the former arguably has long-term effects on our psychological relationship with the environment, but these are remarkable at best, rather than actionable.
squire online:
RR Discussions: The Valaquenta, A Shortcut to Mushrooms, and Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit
Lights! Action! Discuss on the Movie board!: 'A Journey in the Dark'. and 'Designing The Two Towers'.
Footeramas: The 3rd (and NOW the 4th too!) TORn Reading Room LotR Discussion; and "Tolkien would have LOVED it!"
squiretalk introduces the J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: A Reader's Diary
 = Forum has no new posts. Forum needs no new posts.
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User
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Time
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1458 megapixel image of the Earth at night in full resolution
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Magpie
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Dec 6 2012, 6:00am
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I'm fascinated by all the lights in the North Sea (on the east side of the UK)
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Xanaseb
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Dec 7 2012, 3:26am
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Shipping vessels as well I imagine
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DanielLB
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Dec 7 2012, 8:05am
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I agree with Squire
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Aragorn's Sexy Scar
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Dec 7 2012, 8:16pm
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I'm not disregarding technology at all
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DanielLB
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Dec 8 2012, 8:17am
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A bit depressing.
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N.E. Brigand
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Dec 7 2012, 4:39am
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yes, that's true
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Magpie
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Dec 7 2012, 4:52am
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Yes, but...
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squire
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Dec 7 2012, 5:34am
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Good points, Squire.
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Patty
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Dec 7 2012, 9:51am
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Do you remember seeng the Milkyway in the sky as a child?
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lyndomiel
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Dec 8 2012, 2:24am
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Just point the lights down.
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N.E. Brigand
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Dec 8 2012, 10:36pm
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If only
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squire
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Dec 8 2012, 11:23pm
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It would certainy help, but ...
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DanielLB
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Dec 9 2012, 9:50am
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Lights in big cities
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Magpie
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Dec 9 2012, 2:48pm
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In the 'burbs.
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Delrond
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Dec 11 2012, 10:40pm
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"3-mile-wide asteroid to buzz planet Earth tonight"
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N.E. Brigand
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Dec 11 2012, 9:55pm
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Geminids
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Delrond
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Dec 11 2012, 10:26pm
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Dang! I knew i left the outhouse light on at the camp!
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silneldor
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Dec 7 2012, 9:46pm
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thanks Magpie
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lyndomiel
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Dec 8 2012, 2:25am
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As with all change, something tends to be lost and something gained
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silneldor
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Dec 10 2012, 5:01am
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"There is not much to suffer from the night world these days."
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Magpie
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Dec 10 2012, 5:15am
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Yes,
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silneldor
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Dec 11 2012, 2:59am
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Sil, you are a poet :)
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Ethel Duath
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Dec 10 2012, 4:58pm
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And that is why there is a wonderful poet in yourself, Ethel D:).
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silneldor
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Dec 11 2012, 3:34am
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That's an awful bright light.
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dernwyn
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Dec 10 2012, 5:12pm
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During the cooler times when the humidity is low
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silneldor
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Dec 11 2012, 2:54am
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