Have you ever wondered how many of our public libraries offer books written about Light Pollution?   What about books on the subject of illumination engineering?   Have you ever checked into this?   If so, have you found any good titles available on the shelves?

Over the past few years I have checked several libraries and book stores in my area, but nearly each time I find the shelves to be empty on both subjects!   The only book store I've found titles about Light Pollution at is Atticus Books down the street from the Wesleyan University campus in Middletown, Connecticut.   Libraries at some universities specializing in architecture or electrical engineering may be more fruitful with books on lighting design, but the general public seems to only have access to this vital information via the Internet.   There are growing volumes of good references on the Web, but not much exists on the shelves in book form.   Can we do something about this??   Would you be willing to try?

Education and awareness of the general public is the first step to overcoming this increasing social menace depleting our planet's resources and reducing our quality of life, yet the paradox is, the public only gets tiny doses of LP awareness provided to them in sound bytes on the radio, or in occasional newspaper articles, and on the Web.   The quality of information is improving as we learn more, but much more is needed and your efforts are needed to help advance the cause of obtrusive lighting reform and make Light Pollution become a household word.

Essentially, the people have nothing, or at best very little, to reference on the shelves of our massive public library systems and book stores.   Adding to that, school age children and college students in countries around the globe have virtually no reference books in order to write their reports from, get interested in, learn more about, etc.   The chances are not much in favor of these young people maturing into adults who have a keen understanding of the problem, let alone develop knowledge about providing the solutions.   Our youth are the future guardians of this planet!

When children are born into nearly starless night skies they know nothing of what they are missing, so why should they, or how could they even learn to care about this problem at all without that important first hand experience that most adults over the age of 40 have?   Books and planetarium visits help people learn about this growing social problem.   When is the last time you saw the Milky Way from your back yard?   Was it recently or was it many many years ago?

What positive impact could we make on society if each of us were to take a list of book titles, authors, and ISBN numbers to our local library and request the head librarian to order the books?   Better yet, since most public libraries operate on very slim budgets, what if each of us who could afford it actually *purchases* a book or two and donates a few titles to a public library in our area?   I cannot recall the number of kids and parents who have written to me seeking reference books on this subject, but there have been quite a few over the years.   Might this idea make a great public outreach project that your astronomical society would be interested in doing for a public library in your area?

Here is a list of a few good books that I know of. Maybe you know of others. Please share the titles and publisher information if you do so they can be listed here.