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[OL-Forum] Digest Number 850
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There are 2 messages in this issue.
Topics in this digest:
1. RE: Outdoor Lighting as a Belief System
From: Scott Griswold <griz@hitchhiker...>
2. Re: RE: Outdoor Lighting as a Belief System
From: "John M. McMahon" <mcmahon@mail....edu>
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Message: 1
Date: Tue, 24 Jun 2003 21:12:58 -0400
From: Scott Griswold <griz@hitchhiker...>
Subject: RE: Outdoor Lighting as a Belief System
> From: "Richard Klappal" <klappal@xnet...>
> Subject: RE: Outdoor Lighting as a Belief System
>
> IMHO, as our ancestral stone-agers began to control fire, that fire
If we go back far before fire was discovered you have to wonder, how
were people able to get around at night. Did they? Or did they just
huddle in a corner until the sun rose again? I would be interested in
hearing the true archaeological truth on this, but I would venture to
say that the very nature of the way our eyes work today tells lot of
the story.
The ability for our eyes to adjust to such a drastic range is light is
amazing. Even on a moonless night one could speculate that our
ancestors of millions of years ago were able to walk around in the dark
only by the light of the stars and by what they could see as the
eternal glow of twilight. It makes me wonder if we have lost some of
our range of dark adaption since the advent of fire and increased
artificial light at night. It also makes me wonder if we will continue
to lose the range of adaption if we allow nighttime lighting to
continue to grow. Perhaps millions of years from now, even during a
power failure, future generations will not be able to see the stars at
night for the simple reason that they physiology doesn't allow it.
Generation after generation of evolutionary changes to "keep the light
out" prevents it.
-Scott
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Message: 2
Date: Tue, 24 Jun 2003 21:59:30 -0400
From: "John M. McMahon" <mcmahon@mail....edu>
Subject: Re: RE: Outdoor Lighting as a Belief System
The message below seems not to have reached the list ... or
maybe ust my inbox. There's been some glitches of late on
the system I use. If this is a repeat for you all,
apologies; I have not seen the original posting show up.
John McMahon
----
Scott Griswold wrote:
> It makes me wonder if we have lost some of
> our range of dark adaption since the advent of fire and increased
> artificial light at night. It also makes me wonder if we will continue
> to lose the range of adaption if we allow nighttime lighting to
> continue to grow. Perhaps millions of years from now, even during a
> power failure, future generations will not be able to see the stars at
> night for the simple reason that they physiology doesn't allow it.
> Generation after generation of evolutionary changes to "keep the light
> out" prevents it.
This is a quite extraordinary parallel to my own youthful
and unsubstantiated observations years ago. As a kid in the
50s and 60s on a quickly-growing Long Island, NY I watched
as the skies became brighter and brighter every year as more
and more unbridled commercial and residential development
engulfed the countryside. At that time I recall saying to my
friends (who, truth be told, didn't really care very much)
that I was sure that at some point, in addition to the loss
of an appreciation for the night skies -- which paled
(literally) in comparison to the latest Wetson's hamburger
joint or gaudy movie marquee -- the the human eye itself
might one day be incapable of making the subtle visual
distinctions in seeing starlight. I though that that day
would be sooner rather than later, but now I think that we
haven't had to wait for the physical changes to occur.
People just don't look at the sky (or much of their
surroundings anymore).
Of course, according to some I'd been reading *way* too
many books on ancient life forms and their evolution
(fossils being the work of the Devil, according to my
mother), so that's probably where I was heading in my 13 yr.
old mind. Still ....
John McMahon
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